Drybrook Rugby Club

Weston-Super-Mare 37pts
Drybrook 8pts

Drybrook endured a difficult afternoon away at the runaway league leaders where they spent a lot of time starved of possession.
At this level if you are unable to secure your own set piece ball then you will be in trouble and so it proved for Drybrook.
Weston took an early lead with a penalty and after some enjoyable end to end rugby the sea siders grabbed their first try.
Winning a scrum against the head Weston attacked and despite some heroic defence a try was scored under the posts.
Drybrook’s scrum was again in trouble on 15 minutes but a great break out of defence by Sam Peaper relieved the pressure.
Weston continued to dominate and went further ahead with another penalty goal after 20 minutes but then Drybrook finally got some worthwhile possession and quickly made an impact.
Another Peaper line break took play deep into Weston territory and after lots of pressing the home side had a player sent to the bin.
Tom Treherne kicked the resulting penalty from in front of the posts but even against 14 men it was hard to break through for Drybrook.
With 35 minutes gone Treherne missed a long range penalty but Drybrook remained on the offence at the end of the half but found Weston’s defence difficult to penetrate.

Half Time:
Weston-Super-Mare 13pts
Drybrook 3pts

Weston started the second half in a positive mood and soon scored another try after Drybrook simply ran out of defenders.
Weston began to grow in confidence and straight from the re-start they were on the attack again where only a knock on saved the visitors.
The next try was not long in coming and it was a result of another scrum against the head and at 25pts – 3pts it looked ominous for Drybrook.
Against the odds, Drybrook then enjoyed a long period of ball retention, but made little headway against the strong home defence.
The next Weston try came from some lovely off loading and support play but Drybrook hit back and finally got across the home line.
Lots of pressing and quick hands one way then the other led to winger Rhys Gardner going over on the overlap but Treherne’s conversion attempt rebounded off the upright.
With time running out Weston completed a comfortable victory with try number five following a slick line out move that caught the tiring Drybrook defence by surprise.

Drybrook 1st XV: Tom Treherne, Kristian Taft, Joe Margretts, Simon Rugman, Rhys Gardner, Ben Large(Capt), Ben George, Elliot Beattie, Ashley Howells, Alex Wolfe, Will Greenway, Len Mulhane, Sam Peaper, Danny Price, Mitch Bourne.
Replacements: Chris Rawlings, Nigel Ncube, Huw Rimmer.

Drybrook United 33pts
Old Patesians ‘A’ 7pts

Drybrook welcomed Old Patesians to the Mannings with both sides in search of their first victory in the South West pilot league.
Drybrook took an early lead through 2 Andrew Milner penalties.
The first try scorer for Drybrook was Ben Harvey, I fine steal from scrum half Danny Griffiths resulted in the ball being spread to outside centre Harvey who beat several defenders to score from well within his own half.
Next on the score sheet was the impressive Connor Hale, a spilt Old Pats line out bounced kindly for Hale to collect & score under the posts.
Both tries were converted by Milner.
With 5 minutes left of the half Old Pats centre cut a good line to score under the posts.

Half time
Drybrook United 20pts
Old Patesians ‘A’ 7pts

Old Pats where out the blocks sharpest for the 2nd half, applying a great deal of pressure.
After several phases Drybrook managed to claim the ball & clear there lines.
Drybrook’s 3rd try came from Jack Whiting, after several phases the number 8 was able to break through a few tackles to score. The conversion was missed.
10 minutes later Milner slotted a penalty to increase the lead.
From the kick off, the Old Pats kick didn’t go the required 10m resulting in a scrum on half way.
Danny Griffiths picked up & went blind before offloading to Gareth Holdsworth to race in for the bonus point.

Next week sees Drybrook at home against Coney Hill 2’s

Drybrook United XV; Luke Roberts, Jack Freeman, Ben Harvey, Gareth Holdsworth, Jason Jones, Andy Milner (capt), Danny Griffiths, Nick Lewis, Andy Warren, Steve Virgo, Joe James, Jon Pritchard, Jack Whiting, Matt Freeman,Connor Hale.
Replacements; Ben Steward, Tony Suter, Jimmy Smith.

Drybrook Extras 15pts
Tewkesbury 2nds 35pts

The Extras kicked off playing away from the club house and Tewksbury were first to get a score on the board with an un-converted try.
Kane Hale then scored for Drybrook bringing the score level at 5 -5.
15 minutes in Iain Murphy went down injured with a suspected broken leg and the game was forced to move to the training pitch.
The disruption lasted 20 minutes and caused Drybrook to switch off a little giving Tewksbury an opportunity to get some points on the board by the way of two converted tries and a penalty making the score at half time 5 – 22 to Tewksbury.
The second half began and within only a couple minutes Drybrook’s determination and strength saw a ball moved wide to Reggie Jennings to score in the corner.
Next score came from Kane Hale with a dummy right of a breakdown 30 meters out from the line.
Hale went around the breakdown stepping three players and carried low and hard across the line to score under the posts.
Shortly after Drybrook were penalised for not releasing and a yellow card was issued to Jack Davies for talking back. Shortly after Kane Hale was sent to the bin for also answering back to the ref.
Tewksbury took advantage to score a converted try and two penalties to wrap up the result.
Man of the match: Greg Collins.

Drybrook Extras XV; Bobby Hughes, Iain Murphy, Paul Wood, Neil Ricketts, Steve Turley, Jamie Wood, Greg Collins, Chris Skelton, Kane Hale, Steve Rawlings, Reggie Jennings, Jack Davies, Grant Holdsworth, Nigel Kear, Sam Grant.
Replacements Adam Harris, Ian Rawlings.