A crowd of well over 700 saw a thrilling Boxing Day derby, which had everything and which neither side deserved to loose.
Kicking off down the hill and with the wind at their backs, Wellington were soon on the attack, and when they won several quick phases the ball was spread up the pitch for Tom Hawkings to score wide out.
Jack Woodland found himself on the end of another sweeping move after twenty minutes to score a second.
Half time arrived with Wellington 10 nil up but with the wind and slope in the second half Wivey were by no means out of it.
Nothing however prepared the crowd for the next 40 minutes of heart-stopping rugby.
As expected Wivey played the conditions well, and pinned Welly into their own twenty two. A five metre scrum saw Wellington driven back over their own line, only for the referee to disallow the try for a knock on. A second scrum was driven back with Will and Matt Ellis causing all kinds of problems for the visitors tight five. This time the Wivey number 8 John Kerr made no mistake and dotted down.
This did seem to wake Wellington up and they worked their way deep into the hosts twenty two. Here though Dan Smythe Moore was adjudged to have thrown a punch and saw a straight red.
A further yellow a few minutes later meant that as the match went into its final quarter the visitors were down to 13 men. Wivey didn’t take long to take advantage and worked an overlap out wide for Hugh Kelly to score, leaving the scores level.
With 3 minutes remaining Wivey were awarded a penalty in kickable range, and another Wellington player saw yellow. Dan Quick stepped up and coolly slotted the three points.
Wivey failed to deal with the restart however, which saw a Wellington scum in front of the posts on the twenty two. Given the dominance of the home sides set scrum this shouldn’t have proved too much of a problem, however Wellington were awarded a free kick for an early engagement.
They went through a couple of phases before the ball was given to stand-in captain Paddy Jarman. He saw some space in behind, and dinked the ball over the top. It bounced kindly for him back into his hands and he was able to fall over the line. Hawkings added the extras and the referee blew the final whistle.
A truly thrilling encounter to which both sides contributed massively, and was a great advertisement for local rugby.
Wiveliscombe 2nds 8 Wellington 2nds 14
On a blustery Boxing morning, Plain Pond was looking remarkably good considering the recent weather.
Playing down the hill but into the wind in the first half Wellington probably tried to play too much rugby, certainly in their own half, and were punished by a young Wivey back line with a try wide out following an intercept.
This proved to be the only score of the half, as handling errors frequently spoiled any chance of running rugby.
With the wind at their backs Wellington gained field position early on and from a scrum, Will Brewer scampered over under the posts. Steven Mason converted to give Wellington a slender lead.
The game ebbed and flowed with neither side able to gain much ascendancy, but with ten minutes to go the young Wivey full back stepped up to show great confidence in front of a good sized crowd to stroke a penalty over into a difficult wind.
With just seconds remaining it looked like Wivey would take the first spoils of the day, but Trae Gosling took a lovely line joining the threes on half way and sprinted past the tiring home defence to score. Mason again converted to give Wellington a slightly 6point flattering lead.
Wellington secured the re-start which had already been called as the last play to win a tight game.
Match reports: Mke Brewer