WESTBURY RFC travelled to Devizes for what was to be a physical game defined by hard defence with both teams having to defend for long periods.
The tone of the game was set quickly, with a large crowd spurring on Devizes as it was their vice president’s day. The home side got off to a quick start after some poor play by Westbury from the kick off, which led to Devizes having a lineout in a good attacking position, which led to them scoring first and with the extras added, the score read 7-0 to Devizes.
Westbury were clearly not in the game at this point as they missed a few tackles and gave away a penalty for the home side to kick for goal to make it 10-0 Devizes. However, Westbury then started to wake up and started building some solid phases and withstanding some Devizes aggressive tackling, centre Dave King managed to cross the whitewash. 10-5 Devizes.
Westbury then increased their momentum and managed to score once more – this time hooker Jack Bates crossed the line and stand off Sam Leat added the extras to make it 10-12 Westbury. Devizes however fought back hard and with the home crowd behind them and after a knock on from a Westbury player during a hard tackle, they managed to score a converted try.
As the first half came to a close, the score read 17-12 to Devizes. With the start of the second half, and more excellent play from Devizes, they caught Westbury sleeping and scored what was to be their last try and conversion in the game, although at this time they were leading 24-12. Westbury had to dig deep and followed the example of wing Niall Fagan who put in some ferocious tackles which led to a fight back by the visitors.
After a 20-minute stalemate where both teams refused to give an inch with the hits getting bigger and harder, lock Tom Redman was able to cross the Devizes try line to score, Sam Leat converting from wide out bringing the score to 24-19. With ten minutes to go, Westbury still had work to do and with the home crowd growing increasingly vocal they had to keep cool heads until, with two minutes left of the game, replacement number eight Darren Fuller, ran a hard-line clattering through three players and managed to stretch over the line to bring the score even. Sam Leat once again converted from a difficult position to clinch a 24-26 win for Westbury.
Westbury would like to thank Devizes for hosting such a fantastic match as well as the referee and all of those who made the effort to travel and support both teams. The atmosphere was incredible and made the contest one to remember.
Report by Mark Catley-Day.
