The u13's wait is over

The wait for a bone fide win is over. A tired and depleted squad took to the field at South Molton having negotiated locked gates and an unplayable ploughed field of a pitch which was deemed unsafe.

Out of the travelling squad of 16, Isaac Bliss was ill and Edward Land had injured his foot jumping into the swimming pool. Edward bravely played in his trainers t even up the numbers.

Weston were immediately on the offensive aggressively rucking South Molton off the ball from the start and threatening their line. Tom Burge was at the heart of the chaos they were causing South Molton. Morgan Taylor back in his favoured position at flanker took a short pass and grounded the ball on the line only for a South Molton player to push it back. Unfortunately the referee only saw the second movement and penalised him. There would have been no doubt about the score had he received a bump forwards from those players around him.

The warning signs for South Molton as Weston ran powerfully switching the ball well between backs and forwards. Even the South Molton big'uns could not make an impact on the Weston defence with Alfie Calcutt and Corey Campbell looking particularly determined. Switching Dylan Way into the three quarters also had a very positive effect.

Weston scored first, good play by Morgan Taylor at the breakdown saw Tom Burge take the ball at pace, again he had to get their on his own as Weston's tired players looked on as he crashed through.

South Molton responded well, showing that they were no pushover. They moved the ball well through their hands, but Weston's defence stood firm to several determined raids. Eventually though South Molton found the space on the right flank to score.

The teams turned around and Weston had both the slope and the wind to their advantage and they made the most of despite South Molton bringing on several more players who were quite a bit bigger. Matthew James was at the forefront of everything good about the Weston defence but was well supported by everyone. South Molton were particularly dangerous on our left flank, Corey Turnbull whose game has changed dramatically was always on hand to cover a hobbling Edward Land.

The threat fro Weston was pretty much everywhere, the forwards made yards Charlie Harding was a thorn in their side, Morgan Taylor was again unlucky choosing to step inside he spilt the ball. Bradley Robinson was knocked into touch after some slick passing. Alfie Calcutt's invention nearly paid off with a clever grubber into space which he nearly collected himself.

Tom Burge did make it over the line but spilt it, the respite for South Molton was only brief moments later the forwards who had established some superiority over their opponents again drove over the ball and a short pass from Hobbes allowed Tom Burge to crash over.

For a team starved of success this season, Weston never allowed South Molton to come back, they showed real confidence even running the ball from their own line turning defence into attack.

The final say belonged to the excellent Matthew James who had switched with Dylan early to play as an out and out flanker. There was a sting because the forwards had drawn all of South Molton players to the break down and Westons backs were unopposed, unfortunately Hobbes Gaulton who had another great game revelling at the back of more organised set of forwards could not get the ball past the waiting Matthew James to exploit the space. That being said Matthew is pretty unstoppable from close range and broke through the South Molton ranks to score what proved to be the winning try.

After some deliberation the player of the match award went to Tom Burge who once again proved to be the difference with his two tries. But every player should be rightly proud of their performance and contribution.