Tribute South West One West

North Petherton 3 Newent 13

NORTH Petherton captain Damian Griffin insists his side will continue to battle hard in their bid to avoid relegation, despite slipping to a 12th defeat of the season at home to Newent on Saturday, writes Simon Freeman.

Griffin said he couldn't fault the effort and endeavour of his players against a well-drilled Newent side, but admitted some poor decision-making cost them in a hard-fought match.

Griffin said: "It was always going to be a tough game as we expected in the festive season.

"It did surprise us though, as to the pace of the game considering the conditions, but I felt we played some good rugby but we were not clinical.

"We had plenty of possession but white line fever came across and we just couldn't get over the line.

"Credit to the Newent defence especially on their line.

"We couldn't break them down and made some wrong decisions which cost us points.

"We will keep battling and training and looking forward to improving our performances."

This was another frustrating afternoon for Pethy who battled hard but lacked the finesse to break down their determined visitors.

The result was in the balance until the final moments, when a penalty secured the victory and denied Pethy a losing point.

In conditions you would expect for the time of the year, Pethy started the stronger as the visitors fell afoul of the official, who awarded numerous penalties.

The slickest play saw Pethy move the ball across the park and an inside break from Gavin Hancock looked a certain try, but the official called it back for a forward pass.

Pethy worked hard to keep possession as Newent looked dangerous at the breakdown and hit the collisions hard.

The home side took the lead in the 12th minute with a 35 metre penalty from Harry Roberts, which proved to be their only score.

In the 37th minute, Newent levelled the score with a well struck penalty.

The visitors continued the momentum in the final minutes of the half and sustained pressure caused a rushed clearance which landed in the hands of the Newent centre who strolled over from five metres out.

The second half saw the visitors' defence keep Pethy scoreless, despite being pinned on their line for 15 minutes.

Pethy varied their game with tactical kicking and a neat running game, but were unable to get the extra yard and on the two occasions the ball was over the line - one was dropped and the other was called back for off-side.

Newent looked to use the ball and play their way out of trouble which tested the Pethy defence on numerous occasions, but Pethy held firm until the last couple of minutes when the official awarded a penalty.

Newent wisely decided to kick the points and put the game to bed.

Pethy travel to Wells on Saturday.