Sat. 2nd March. Westbury 57 Devizes 2nds 8
Devizes arrived with a big pack of forwards with the idea of trying to “steam roller” over Westbury.
This idea was countered by the skillful handling of the ball by the home side, both forwards and backs, plus with the precise positional kicking of skipper Aaron Vaughan, keeping the Devizes forwards moving all over the pitch to defend. Every time Devizes tried to run out of their own half, determined tackling, would see Westbury quickly move the ball to release their backs, or for Vaughan to kick into touch, deep in the visitors’ half. This all looked promising for Westbury and after only 7 minutes, winger Koro Sitiveni opened the home side’s account with a try which Vaughan converted. This was followed by a penalty kick when Devizes were guilty of collapsing a scrum. Vaughan kicked the 3 points.
With Westbury’s game plan working well, 3 more tries were added, scored by lock forward Tom Redman and full back Ash Hart, who scored twice. Vaughan converted all 3. Half time Westbury were on 31 points with Devizes yet to reply.
The second half started with Devizes using the advantage of the wind and the slope to score after 4 minutes. Not converted. 5 minutes later they were awarded a penalty when Westbury were guilty of not releasing a tackled player. That was to be the end of their scoring.
Westbury now “switched back on” and after 3 minutes Ryan Knight scored from a “quick” tap penalty where the ball was passed out to him for him to dance through the defenders to touch down. Once more Vaughan added the conversion.
With Devizes now visibly tiring, it was time to bring on the Westbury replacements. On came Logan Smith and Reece Ball with 20 minutes to go. The strategy worked perfectly, with Smith scoring two tries and Ball adding one more. Vaughan kicked 2 of the conversions and just missed with his last attempt, which was the only kick he missed all match.
A 57 – 8 victory for Westbury and all the fitness and match play training, once again, rewarding the players and coach’s efforts on the training paddock.
