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North Petherton 42 Cullompton 0

NORTH Petherton stormed to bonus-point victory over basement side Cullompton at Beggars Brook on Saturday, with veteran winger Gavin Hancock going over for four tries in a comprehensive victory, writes Simon Freeman.

Chad Lowrie and Arron Gibbs also touched down for Pethy in a dominant display – and captain Damian Griffin was pleased with the slick nature of his side’s performance.

He said: "It was a great result for us as we were aiming to collect a bonus point victory.

“We knew it would be tough and Cullompton are a proud team.

“We controlled large parts of the game and sometimes got ahead of ourselves - we had to remind ourselves of the game plan to keep on task.

“All our tries were team efforts and mainly as a result of the forwards putting in another solid shift.

“The handling in the backs was sharp and good to see everyone enjoying their rugby.

“We are hoping to carry on playing as we have been for a short while for the remainder of the season and entertain the home crowd.”

The opening exchanges were even with both teams having opportunities.

However, Pethy turned on the heat with some slick passing to release livewire Chad Lowrie to dot down, Harry Roberts converted.

The visitors produced their best moments and camped themselves near the Pethy line for five minutes but came up just short.

The Pethy forwards began to exert pressure and create space for the backs and within the space of five minutes left winger Gavin Hancock exploded on the ball and race over for two ties, Roberts converted both for a half-time score of 21-0.

The second-half began with Pethy forwards Simon Gingell, Carl Brown and Kyle Presscott all making strong breaks and with the ball being distributed well from Dominik Griffin and Jacob Beleski it was left to Hancock to complete his hat trick, Roberts converted.

Pethy looked to attack from all over the pitch and looked likely to score only for some excellent tackling from the visitors prevented further tries.

Petherton’s fifth try was a combination of forwards linking superbly and a crisp inside pass from Sam Williams supplied Hancock with his fourth, Roberts converted.

The final few minutes saw the visitors press for a deserved try, but again they were held out and Pethy moved the ball down field with Damian Griffin prominent - Arron Gibbs barged his way over in the corner, Roberts converted to complete the scoring for the afternoon.