South West One West

Wells 18, North Petherton 8

INDISCIPLINE was to blame as North Petherton slumped to an 18-8 defeat at Wells on Saturday, writes Simon Freeman.

Pethy’s only try of the afternoon came from veteran winger Gavin Hancock, while Harry Roberts added three of the kicking tee – but overall it was a disappointing afternoon for the visitors, summed up by skipper Damian Griffin.

He said: “We were not in the right place mentally but well played to Wells whose passion and will to win the game was greater than ours.

“We will have to work out ways to stop giving away penalties. This will give us a big wakeup call and I know we can improve.

“One of the positives was we kept our line intact and we remained solid in that department.”

The match throughout was a tough physical affair with the home side playing with desire to arrest their recent bad run.

They deservedly tool the lead with a penalty, but Pethy played themselves back in to the game by moving the ball wide and showing plenty of ambition on the counter attack.

After a series of short drives by the forwards, Pethy levelled the score through a Harry Roberts penalty.

Pethy continued to build the momentum and were rewarded with a Gavin Hancock try after he won a race to the try-line to put the visitors in front.

This time it was Wells who responded positively, as they continued to move the ball and build pressure with some clever handling - and before half time closed the gap with another penalty.

The second half was a turgid battle with the breakdown deciding the contest.

Both teams continued to play rugby but defences thwarted a free flowing game.

Petherton began to concede a series of penalties from which the home side took full advantage.

Petherton defended stubbornly and worked hard to keep their shape but regrettably were unable to please the official and as a result, Wells kicked three second half penalties to secure a much needed four points.