Nailsea & Backwell II 7 - 8 Gordano II

After having a week off after Gordano's heavy defeat at home to Weston. Gordano travelled the short distance to Nailsea. The captains agreed to rolling subs as Nailsea and Gordano had five replacements, the first time this has happened this season for Gordano.

After losing the toss, Nailsea & Backwell opted for going up the slope the first half. Gordano kicked off, Mike Dyer sending the ball high for Simon Childs to get there and catch the ball from the start. Nailsea defended well and cleared their lines, Louis Leighton put in a big hit on the Nailsea 10 to set the tone, if anything the first half was a scrappy affair with neither team playing any good rugby, Gordano's line out was not working, and Gordano never sustained any real pressure on Nailsea, which was frustrating as Gordano had the slope in their favour but failed to make it count. Neal Foster picked the ball up from inside the 22 and ran it back well knocking the winger down only to be stopped a few metres further, with a hard but fair tackle in to the wooden frame on the side line. Although Neal Foster got up Sean Coles watched from the sideline and decided it was best Neal Foster came off, due to seeing two people instead of one in front of him!!!!. The game was becoming a bit of a football match with numerous shenanigans from both teams, which was starting to frustrate the referee who then produced a yellow card to the Nailsea back row player which at the time seemed harsh for an infringement at the ruck. Nailsea pushed into the Gordano 22 but didn't find a way through and Gordano held on till half time.

Half Time

Nailsea & Backwell II 0 - 0 Gordano II

With Gordano failing to score and the slope now in Nailsea's favour the second half got under way. And after the first forty minutes of no rugby really being played, Gordano started the brighter and made ground only to lose the ball or give a penalty away to Nailsea allowing them to clear their lines, and at times the young Nailsea back line would break only to find Ben Clark in fine tackling form at fullback who stepped in and stopped Nailsea from scoring on a few occasions had Nailsea shipped the ball to support then the score line might have been different. The game had now started to settle and rugby was starting to be played, Louis Leighton was running well but did not offload and former Nailsea player Ashley Cottrell was causing the Nailsea defence problems with his jinxing runs. The game wasn't a spectacle by any means but with the score line so tight it was nerve racking to watch. It took until the 65th minute when Nailsea gave a penalty just outside their 22 in a central position for Nick Moore to coolly slot the kick over for a 3 point lead and it wasn't shortly after when Luke Wilson managed to steal the ball from a Nailsea lineout in Gordano's 22 that Mike Dyer span the ball out to Ashley Cottrell who went on a lung busting run from the Gordano 22 up the slope and almost slowing down in the Nailsea 22 to then find a second gear and score with a swan dive in the corner. Nailsea were not done and 72 minutes in Tom Harris was a little to eager at the ruck and was sin-binned for offside. Nailsea grew in confidence and kicked to touch, after the catch and drive was halted Nailsea span the ball out wide to score in the corner with 4 minutes left to go Nailsea kicked a difficult conversion to bring them within in a point of Gordano.

Gordano now down to 14 men held on to secure the victory over their local rivals by a point. Although not a classic game it had all the makings of what a derby game is no matter what standard you play at. Good luck to Nailsea for the rest of the season. Man of the match was a joint decision and went to Ashley Cottrell for his moment of magic and Ben Clark for his try saving tackles. Gimp of the game went to Tom Harris for his second yellow card in two weeks he is now threatening retirement from rugby. Gordano host Oldfield II at Caswell Lane next Saturday.