Gordano Sharks 17 Weston Super Mare U15s 15

On Wednesday the 10th of April the two teams met at Gordano RFC for a seven o’clock kick off under the floodlights. It was an important fixture as it was Gordano’s last home game of the season and they were determined to win.
After a Gordano kick off Weston mounted a steady attack and pushed Gordano back into their own 22. However Gordano’s defence was strong and a turnover resulted in a counter attack. Weston used strong rucking to win the ball back but the Gordano defence pressured the attack and Sam Hodge reading a pass by one of the Weston players intercepted the ball and ran twenty yards to score the first try of the game in the left hand corner. The conversion was skilfully scored by Lewis Leaker. Weston weren’t phased by Gordano’s early score and they pushed Gordano back, eventually leading to their first try. In Gordano’s effort to halt the waves of Weston attacks, two penalties were conceded resulting in Gordano giving away territory and eventually the Weston centre finding himself with space out wide dashed for the line. However a covering tackle by Zach Wall pushed him into touch. After a clearance the attacking pressure was continued by Gordano with some excellent rucking by the forwards. Tom Instance threw in with accuracy at the line out, managing to get the ball over the massive Weston forward jumping at 2 and Shay Ford acted with composure under the high ball and made some good counter runs. However the slippery conditions made handling difficult and several scoring opportunities were missed. Nevertheless, some quick hands later in the half from the Gordano backs allowed Fin Murphy a break for the line and a clean sidestep of the last defender saw him over the try line for the second try of the match.
At the start of the second half Weston came back with aggression and phase after phase saw Gordano pushed back on their own try line. Unfortunately some indiscipline at the breakdown led to a penalty in which the Weston centre crashed over the line for their second try. However the try was followed by an unsuccessful conversion attempt. Gordano tried to regain territory after this and some good phases were strung together. Unfortunately an interception from a Weston player led to their third try of the game. But yet again the conversion was unsuccessful. Later In the half Lewis Leaker, took a quick tap penalty in the Weston 22, but the slow-retreating Weston prop was unable to resist an early tackle, leading to a yellow card. However Weston weathered the ten minutes with only 14 on the pitch well, and without conceding any further points. An opportunity missed by the Sharks. Ten minutes from the end of the match Gordano were still under pressure in their own half. However, when a penalty was given against Weston, Lewis leaker kicked the ball deep into the Weston half. Weston won the lineout but a knock-on resulted in a scrum which was taken blind by the Gordano scrum half and his pass allowed Harrison Williams to cut through the Weston defence to score the winning points for Gordano. An unsuccessful conversion attempt followed, but Weston were unable to create a comeback in the time left in the match.
This was the narrowest of victories by 17 points to 15 for Gordano, setting the sharks up nicely for their forthcoming tour.