Westbury RFC took the spoils against local rivals Warminster on Saturday 27th September with a 18-8 victory.
The homeside looking to start quickly and take the ascendancy came across a common problem and produced and error strewn 1st quarter, allowing Warminster to have the majority of the possession and territory.
Westbury’s defence however continued to remain strong however, not letting Warminster have the opportunity to cross their line, conceding only one penalty during this time. Westbury then began to come into the game and when they were awarded a penalty in the Warminster half, winger Jack Brooks kicked the ball through the posts to tie the scores. This seemed to kick Westbury into life and they began to build pressure through some strong carries from the forwards following a number of rucks close to the Warminster line. The home side were close to scoring when Warminster managed to turn the ball over, unfortunately for them it spilled out of the side and flanker Andrew Twinney was as always alert and picked the ball up to touch down giving Westbury a 8-3 half time lead.
During the half time period coach Gareth ‘Foggy’ Vaughan encouraged his team to stop panicking and to move the ball wide and take advantage of the strength that they had. Westbury started the second half well and after 10 minutes following some could interplay in the forwards the ball was moved wide and Fly Half Matthew Inseal raced towards the line and touched down in the corner, the conversion was missed to leave Westbury leading 12-3.
Westbury continued to dominate proceedings but were not able to take advantage of their dominance until the 65th minute when following a flowing backs move Outside Centre Nigel Kershaw touched down, the conversion was again missed but Westbury led 18-3. Sensing the chance of further scores Westbury attempted to find the bonus point score, this was aided when the Warminster flanker was sin binned for foul play. Unfortunately a number of mistakes meant Westbury did not score any further points. Warminster crossed for a consolation try to make it 18-8.
Westbury will be pleased to have won the derby game but will know that if they can up their efforts in training, they could win more comprehensively. Westbury’s players of the match for their all round contribution were props Chris Pearce and Adam Stephenson who were excellent in all aspects of the game. A special mention should also go to flanker Logan Smith who had a fantastic game.
