Saturday 19th January. Dorset and Wilts Division 2 North Westbury 10 Corsham 2nds 0

Westbury welcomed Corsham 2nds to Knott Field.  

This was always going to be a tough encounter with Corsham looking to gain ground on the White Horse Men in the league table and avenge the defeat to Westbury earlier in the season.

A hard match it certainly turned out to be with neither side willing to take a step backward or give ground. Corsham started well for the first 10 minutes of the game, with Westbury not seeing much of the ball and having to defend. Defend they did; with aggressive tackling and strong determination they stopped Corsham from scoring.  

Gradually Westbury started to gain some ascendancy with more ball possession and after 20 minutes, were rewarded with a try.  A drive, deep into Corsham territory and the ball being worked wide into the hands of winger Jamie Dixon, allowed him to score in the corner.  Aaron Vaughan unfortunately was just wide with the conversion attempt.   

The half continued in much the same vein, with Westbury continuing to launch some good attacks only for the good work to be undone, when Westbury started to give away a string of penalties, allowing Corsham to kick for touch and send Westbury back into their own half, from which Corsham were able to launch their own attacks.  Once again the home side’s defensive skills were good enough to nullify the visitors’ efforts.  The half-finished with no more scores, 5 – 0 to Westbury.

During the break, Westbury coach Gareth ‘Foggy’ Vaughan read the riot act to his players about the penalty count and encouraged the team to get the game plan back on track. 

The second half kicked off with both sides looking for the next score.  Again the players would give and ask for no quarter.  The match lurched from one end to the other, with both teams unable to break the deadlock. 

This continued right up until there were only 3 minutes left on the clock, when Westbury’s inside centre, Lee McClerg, who through the whole of the match was a thorn in the side of the Corsham defence, carried the ball deep into the Corsham half.  He was brought down on the 5 metre line.  His supporting players rucked over the ball, for hooker Jack Bates to pick it up and drive over the try line for Westbury’s second try.  Once more the conversion was missed. 

This score appeared to take the steam out of the visitors and Westbury were able to see the game out with a 10 – 0 win.

The win has taken Westbury to touching distance of second place in the league, just 5 points behind Marlborough 2nds, with a game in hand.  This was a hard-fought match for the lads with excellent play from the whole team, but Westbury’s Man of the Match, agreed by the supporters, was Lee McClerg who played exceptionally well for all of the game.

Next week Westbury travel to Swindon College Old Boys 2nds, looking to put right their only home  loss this season, which was back in October last year.