Tribute South West 1W

North Petherton 22, Thornbury 20

NORTH Petherton captain Damian Griffin praised his side for “stepping up to the mark” as they beat Thornbury at Beggars Brook on Saturday, writes Simon Freeman.

Harry Auten, Carl Brown and a lengthof-the-field effort from Gavin Hancock saw Pethy to a narrow victory – and Griffin was pleased to start the New Year with a win.

He said: “Everyone stepped up to the mark showing great pride.

“We knew we had to start the New Year with a win and having great support us really drove us on.

“A big thanks to the supporters who were so positive throughout.

“The performance has put us in good spirits and we can build on this.”

Thornbury made a brilliant start and starved Pethy of any possession.

The visitors kept possession for the opening five minutes and, in that time, they had taken a 10-0 lead through a Mike Gaston try and a conversion and penalty from Tim Stephens.

Pethy did regroup with the forwards battling for any yardage with Kyle Presscott prominent.

On 12 minutes, Ben Tracey found Carl Brown ten yards out who bounced his way over a couple of defenders to close the gap.

Thornbury regained the momentum and pressurised Pethy in to making small errors which they exploited fully with a try from Jack Evans – Stephens converted to increase the lead to 17-5.

Pethy started to find success by moving the ball quickly across the park and stretching the visiting defenders.

Jacob Beleski moved the ball smartly across the line and, with Tito Elisara breaking a couple of tackles, it was left to Harry Auten to add the finishing touch for an excellent team try, Harry Roberts converted.

The remainder of the first half saw both teams add a penalty with Pethy camping themselves on the Thornbury line only to be met with stubborn defence.

The second half was a tough physical battle with the breakdown dictating play.

Thornbury edged possession but Pethy produced a moment of brilliance to play themselves out of continuous defence.

A five-yard scrum under their posts saw Arron Gibbs pick up the ball and head left, sucking in a defender and supplying the ball to Gavin Hancock who then set off on a 90 metre run and seeing off three defenders with an outside break on the final defender and get himself near the posts – Roberts converted for 22-20.

This completed the scoring but, for much of the second half, the visitors threw everything they had at the Pethy line only to be met by some committed defending Man of the match – Arron Gibbs.