South West 1 West
Thornbury 17, North Petherton 37

NORTH Petherton leapfrogged Thornbury into ninth place in the South West 1 West table, by gaining revenge for a 29-26 defeat in the reverse fixture.

A depleted home side were no match for Pethy’s big pack, with Aiden Cotton helping himself to a hat-trick of tries.

Rich Bennett put Thornbury ahead with an unconverted try, but a penalty from Jack Rees narrowed the gap, and then Cotton barged over to make it 10-5.

James Taylor broke from a maul to power over in the corner, but Tom Williams’ try ensured there was not much in it at half-time.

Cotton took a quick tap penalty on the 22 to score his second, Rees converting, only for Johnny Heaven to narrow the gap to 22-17.

But from the restart Taylor sped through a gap to score Pethy’s bonus-point try.

The contest was all but over, and the killer blow was delivered when scrum-half Dominic Griffin span the ball out to man of the match Cotton, who powered through for his hat-trick.

The icing on the cake came from Damian Griffin, who snatched a interception to sprint from the halfway line and score under the posts.

Ninth in the table and just two points off seventh, Pethy have a weekend off but host Okehampton on February 9.

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Women’s NC South West 1
Hucclecote v North Petherton - abandoned

A WINDY and cold day at Gloucester saw Hucclecote Ladies host North Petherton Ladies for a rearranged fixture.

The visitors started well and made the breakthrough on 18 minutes when Cherie Griffiths went over for her first try for the team which captain Rosie Wheeler converted.

But shortly before half-time the hosts got back into it with an unconverted try.

The away side were dominating the second half, but a tackle on Stacey Saunders resulted in her suffering a spinal injury, which stopped play.

An ambulance was called and game called off – thankfully the X-rays were all clear and Saunders is on the road to recovery.