Gordano 67 Clevedon 2's 5

Following the frustrations of last weeks away defeat to Winscombe Gordano knew that a victory of any kind would be enough to secure top spot in the league and confirm their promotion in to Western Counties North.

It took only 5 minutes for Tim Statton to break the line and offload to winger Josh Richards who passed back inside to Owen Abbott to score out on the left for a 5 point lead. From here Gordano looked nervous and proceeded to squander a number of good opportunities to stretch their lead and relieve some tension. Clevedon looked content to kick the ball clear at every opportunity despite playing into a stiff wind in the first half. It was not until the 26th minute that Gordano struck again with a build up very similar to the first this time it was Jack Hendy through the line, offloading to Abbott who fed inside for Lee Worgan to score under the posts. This seemed to relax the players and number 10 Joe Rowsell was next over the line, dummying and drifting through a gap in the defence following quick recycling of the ball from the forwards. Full back Chris Worgan got a rare try next before big centre Jack Hendy bundled through for his 17th of the season to bring Gordano’s half time total to 32, with Clevedon having 5 points to their name following a good kick chase and finish.

The message at half time was to enjoy themselves and start to put some pace and width on the ball. This was put in to action on 47 minutes when Abbott dissected two defenders and had the pace to round the fullback before dotting down. In Clevedon’s defence they only had the bare 15 players and were visibly tired in the second half, Gordano were able to bring on replacements Ben Clarke, Kyle Warrington and Carl Petch who was next on the score board after running a great support line on the inside of back rower Mike Yandell following another well worked break from the centre pairing of Abbott and Hendy. The final 15 minutes saw 4 more tries, replacement scrum half Ben Clarke saw a gap in front of him which he duly skipped through and had the skill to stand up the fullback and score himself. Number 8 Tim Statton who impressed on the day got the next score before Chris Worgan doubled his season tally with his second try of the game. The decent crowd were rewarded with a final score by winger Josh Richards who received an offload on the line from Tim Statton.

Final score 67-5 which was Gordano’s highest tally of the season and a fitting way to seal promotion. Men of the match were Owen Abbott and veteran second row Andre Bailey who now claims to have played his last game for the club, if this is the case then we all wish him well for his retirement.

Its been a great season with a great bunch of players: unbeaten at home, a couple of cup runs and in the end convincing and deserved winners of this tough league – next year will be a big step up but I have no doubt this group can succeed.