NORTH Petherton ladies travelled to league leaders Yeovil on Sunday for what was always destined to be a "smash a minute" local derby, and won out 14-7.

Pethy started strongly and spent the first 20 minutes testing a well drilled Yeovil side.

The forwards worked well together and Tamzin Reis-Day punished the opposition with bruising drives and fantastic offloads to the backs.

The handling from the backs in such slippery conditions was commendable.

The ball was passed from the pack by scrum-half Alana O'Dell and down the line, through centres Sam England and Amy Rose making good ground.

The ball reached winger Alex Williams who ran the ball in but was stopped short of the try-line.

Yeovil pushed hard but they failed to get into the Pethy half.

Tackle after tackle was made and the team dominated in both possession and territory.

Pethy took a scrum, Jade Miller striking the ball back through the pack and into the hands of Alana O'Delll the ball was quickly offloaded to Fly-half Stacey Saunders and moved forward at pace to Sam England, Claire Hancock and Billie Staite, then back into the hands of Saunders, who scored under the posts for the first try of the game.

The try was converted by Gemma Baker.

The momentum was with Pethy but Yeovil worked hard to get back into the Pethy half.

Pethy's number 8 Lisa McClafferty made some bold runs through the Yeovil defence with some great offloads through the forward pack.

Gemma Baker, Gemma Thorne, Sue Callidine, Rosie Wheeler, Jade Miller, Kate Williams and Leia Mantyk smashed through the Yeovil line relentlessly and gained plenty of ground.

The ball came out to the backs and was quickly passed down the line to Amy Clark on the wing, who attempted a cheeky kick through the Yeovil defence.

The kick didn't play out as intended, though, and was quickly picked up by the Yeovil full-back who sprinted through the Pethy defence at pace heading for the try-line.

She was chased down by Pethy's speedy fly-half Saunders and was caught short of the line - definitely a highlight of the match.

A fantastic scrum by the Pethy forwards resulted in the ball being passed through the back line to Kelly Palmer, Billy Staite, Claire Hancock and the charging Saunders, who went over the line for her second try, again converted by Baker to make it 14-0 at half time.

The second half started strong but momentum was soon lost due to several injuries - the wet slippery conditions and the brutal tackling caused many ladies on both teams to be substituted.

Yeovil came out with determination, the atmosphere was intense, but they were denied any ground as Joan Grant and Danielle Parish ensured they didn't advance any further.

Yeovil applied the pressure again, though, driving through the Pethy line to score their first converted try of the game.

The last few minutes of the game were frantic and seemed to last forever.

Both sides were tiring and hurting but with neither side willing to give up, the battle continued until the final whistle blew and cheers erupted from an exhausted but exhilarated Pethy side, and their superb travelling support.

North Petherton ladies forward of the match: Lisa McClafferty; back of the match: Stacey Saunders.

The win leaves Pethy 12 points behind Yeovil with three games in hand.