Gordano 21 Wiviliscombe 16

Gordano remained unbeaten with a hard fought victory at home to Wiviliscombe. The home side started well with some strong running in midfield getting them into the opposition 22 only for the ball to be lost in contact metres from the line. Wivvy had the 1st shot at goal with a long range effort drifting just wide. It was Gordano who got on the board first after captain Fred Young made a half break and offloaded to winger Owen Abott who ran through the fullback to score, Joe Rowsal adding the extras.

It was another smart half break from Young a couple minutes later that put Dan Warner into space howevr support was not up to speed and Wivvy managed to clear their lines. A well worked move looked to have put Wivvy clear on the left hand side but a huge hit from fullback Chris Worgan prevented the score. Gordano pressure resulted in a succession penalties that allowed number 10 Rowsal to tap and go from the edge of the 22 fending away several defenders before going over for a 7 pointer. Supporters who thought that Gordano would stretch their lead further before half time were wrong as Wivvy settled themselves well and started to put some decent possession together, effective breakdown work allowed the number 10 to throw a well flighted miss pass for the right winger to score out wide. Wivvy backed the score up with another try, this time scored by the left winger after a set move from an attacking scrum in the middle of the pitch, although both conversions were missed a successful penalty put the away side within a point at half time.

Both teams started to niggle in the second half and second row Tom Arnal recieved a yellow card for reacting to some excessive use of the boot by the Wivvy forwards. With the man advantage Wivvy took the lead for the first time with a penalty kick on 55 minutes. Gordano managed to channel their frustrations and started to piece together some attacking plays, the referee began to turn and Wivvy were penalised for killing the ball at the breakdown, the penalty was kicked to the corner and the resulting lineout lead to a good drive and Tom Arnal went some way to redeeming himself by getting the try, for the second week in a row Rowsal maintained 100% from the tee.

Despite some concerted pressure in the last 10 minutes Gordano held firm for a hard fought win. There is definitely more to come from this side but the result showed a good level of maturity and an ability to get over the line in a close game. Gordano are looking forward to a big training week before the trip to high flying Yatton next week.