Back to Winning Ways

Gordano Sharks travelled to Keynsham Reserves on Saturday looking for a moral boosting victory after successive defeats against the top two sides in Somerset Premier League in previous weeks.

Gordano started well and had the better of the early exchanges. Gordano attacked form the whistle with the intent of moving the large Keynsham pack around and exposing them out wide. The early scrum exchanges went in favour of the home side and Gordano's superior backs against a strong Keynsham pack began to cancel each other out. Keynsham were forced to transgress the laws frequently to keep Gordano's attacks at bay. Eventually a kickable penalty was slotted by Joe Rowsall after 25 minutes . Shortly after, wing Nick Stratton spun out of a tackle and showed that he still has the gas to out pace the defence and score in the corner.

At 0 - 8 at half time, Gordano felt they were in control. Some tinkering and adjustments to the experimental looking pack soon started to make a difference in the second half and Gordano's pack began to dominate the opposition.

A lack of concentration let the home side in for a try which was soon cancelled out by a fine passing move, finished off by flanker Tim Statton to make the final score 5 - 13. This was a good victory fought out away from home against a very dogged and strong opposition.

Gordano now have two cup semi finals to look forward to. Having narrowly lost to Winscombe in the Somerset Vase quarter final, Winscombe have since been disqualified from the competition for playing a cup tied player. Although Gordano had not made any form of complaint, Somerset RFU have taken this action as the player concerned had played for Yatton in an earlier round of the competition. Ironically, this player had scored the winning try for Winscome in the quarter final against the Sharks. Gordano will now play Tor for a chance to make the final and defend the title they won last season. This fixture will be played on Sunday 17th March on a neutral ground which is yet to to be confirmed.

Gordano are also in the last 4 of the Bristol Combination Bowl and have been drawn against Bristol Barbarians in that competition. The date and location of this match are yet to be determined.

Coach Kevin Instance said "these cup matches are a real bonus towards the end of the season. They have given our young squad something to focus on and to maintain good competition for places. We have used 51 players in our first team this year and are still getting 20 - 30 players training regularly. March and April is going to be an interesting time at Caswell Lane"