Minehead 20 Gordano 19

The sun was out for the long drive south but by the time kick off had come about the traditional Minehead weather of wind and rain was in full force. Playing with the wind in the first half and the right to left slope Gordano started well – after a fairly even first 20 minutes the Sharks broke the deadlock with a length of the field counter attack. Winger Elliott Hanscombe fielded a deep kick, stepped the oncoming defender before beating another man on the outside and offloading to Jack Thomas on the inside who carried strongly before in turn offloading to Lee Worgan who found Jack Hendy at pace and the centre cruised in under the posts. Hendy then scored his second of the game and sixth in two games five minutes later with another trademark inside line bustling the front line of defence out of the way. Rowsall converted both tries for a 14 point lead with 20 minutes to go.

Gordano continued to create chances and winger Josh Richards came close on the top of the hill but was held up inches short. Moments later another two on one was created up the hill but the final pass was read by the Minehead winger who intercepted and trotted home from 70m. this was against the run of play but worked as a catalyst for the home side who started to look more dangerous with the ball in hand, in particular their 15. It was the 15 who gathered the ball on the halfway line before hitting the line aggressively, avoiding the initial tackle before getting a grubber kick in behind the defence which the right winger chased and slid on to the ball and in the eyes of the referee, over the line. Although the conversion was missed this brought the half time score to 12-14 with Minehead having the wind on their backs in the second half.

Less chances were created all round in the second half, Minehead kept bashing through the middle with their big runners but failed to make any real progress away from the set piece and driving maul where they had supremacy for much of the game. On 60 minutes Gordano managed to stretch their lead after a series of attacks created half a yard of space for second row Tom Arnell to barge his way over the line (12-19). The set piece continued to be an issue for Gordano as Minehead started to gain the ascendancy with a series of drives from lineouts, awarded to them because of Gordano indiscipline. One such drive involved all 15 Minehead players; it failed to get over the line but did succeed in winning a yellow card for Lee Worgan after the Gordano flanker was adjudged to enter the mega ruck illegally. Several plays later and the Minehead pack were over the line for their third try bringing the score to 17-19 with 5 minutes to play. With the numerical and size advantage Gordano struggled to hold on to the ball and with just over a minute to play the home side were awarded a penalty which was calmly converted to give them the lead. They held on for the final whistle whose blast prompted huge celebrations both on the pitch and the touchline, where the plentiful support lead the cheers. The result was a fair one and gives the Gordano side pushing for promotion something to think about going in to a tough run of fixtures.