South West 1 West
North Petherton 41, Thornbury 10

PETHERTON produced their most fluent display of the season against a team in fifth position for their third victory in the last four matches, writes Simon Freeman.

A large crowd could only enjoy the rugby played as Petherton found their form and attacked from all over the pitch.

The visitors started the game the stronger and, after continued pressure, Thornbury found some space to score out wide.

Petherton played their way back and Mike Stevens, who was instrumental all afternoon, began to find space and make ground every time he had possession.

The new-found confidence began to show in the interplay between the players and, from an Aiden Cotton and Sam Williams pass, Arron Gibbs stormed over, with Williams converting to give Pethy the lead.

Thornbury again exerted pressure and looked to have created space - only a last ditch tackle from Greg Charlton prevented a certain score.

Fly-half Nic Sestaret, began to mix up the game and soon good work from Dan Morgan and Jack Coles saw the ball arrive in the hands of Lewis Allen, who jinked inside one man and then sped to the try line to extend the lead, Williams converting.

The visitors responded well and started to make ground after some slick interplay, but they were thwarted by Carl Jones, James Taylor and Dominik Griffin.

The Pethy defence became the springboard for their attack and, after a series of drives they forced the visitors to concede a penalty.

Petherton favoured kicking to the corner and, from the resulting lineout, a superb catch-and-drive gave Mac Taylor the chance to score Petherton’s third try.

The second half began with Pethy taking the upper hand and Stevens, Sestaret and Griffin combined to send Henry Gliddon over to the try bonus point.

This produced a purple patch from Pethy, who continued to apply the pressure through the big runners and Taylor ran in from five yards before Dominik Griffin added another for Williams to convert.

The visitors’ number nine was prominent throughout and, after a series of short plays and smart off-loads, the visitors scored their second try.

Pethy had the final say, however, with Cotton barging his way over to complete the scoring.

Pethy are without a game on Saturday.

FOUR North Petherton RFC youngsters featured for Somerset as they opened their Jason Leonard Under-20s County Championship campaign with a 10-10 draw against Devon at Burnham-on-Sea RFC last Sunday.

Pethy flanker Mac Taylor captained the side and was joined by clubmates Oli Graham (full-back), Henry Gliddon (outside centre) and Sam Villis (replacement front row).

Somerset play their next match at Berkshire in a fortnight - a win could secure a quarter-final berth.