One of the few rugby matches to go ahead in Saturday’s downpour was Clevedon 2nds versus Wellington 2nds. Even so the pitch was barely playable. Ben Hayman scored Wellington’s only try.
In the first half Wellington controlled the game. However due to the mud and water on the pitch, mistakes were inevitable. Wellington’s scrummage was far superior, and a few balls against the head were stolen. Wellington punished Clevedon early on with two penalties converted by Ricky Marke,
Clevedon hit back with a try after some sloppy defensive work, and converted to make it 7-6. This spurred Wellington on to tighten their game, and barring some good defensive work by Clevedon and a few errors, Wellington would have capitalised more. The points did come after about 35 minutes when Wellington stole Clevedon possession and Ben Hayman sprinted in from the 22, for an unconverted try to make the score 7-11.
Unfortunatley Welly went to sleep at the resultant restart and gifted Clevedon a try in reply. Half time arrived with the score 12-11 to the hosts. The second half was a war of attrition as the pitch resembled a ploughed field. It made hard work for both teams. Wellington were held up on the line several times, but Clevedon held out for 20 mins, until being caught offside which gifted Marke a penalty in front if the posts.
Clevedon then started to pressure the Welly line, and after some fierce attacking, Clevedon were awarded a penalty of their own penalty. The visitors had a chance later on but the penalty was perhaps a little out of Marke’s range. The final score being 15–14. This was a game Wellington could have won, and to leave with just a losing bonus point was heart-breaking for the effort put in.
Clevedon 15 Wellington 14
