Westbury RFC 60 – 10 Bradford on Avon 2nds – Dorset & Wilts North Div. 2, Saturday 19 September

With their first home fixture of this campaign Westbury were keen to put to bed the disappointment of last week’s loss to Avonvale and so at the kick off showed they meant business.  

They forced Bradford back into their own 22 but knocked the ball on.  From the resulting scrum, hooker Jamie Comely took the ball against the head for Westbury to win the ball which was spun out to centre, Dave Whittingham who changing the angle attacked the short side and cleverly off loaded to skipper, Lee Moore, for him to touch down.  The conversion was missed.

Five minutes later number 10, Matt Inseal carved up the defence to double the score. This time Simon Higgins kicked between the posts for the conversion.

Again Westbury put pressure on Bradford who hurriedly kicked the ball out from their 22 which was caught by full back, Nigel Kershaw, who decided to run it back supported by Dave Whittingham; it was a neat off load by Kershaw for Whittingham to score.  Higgins again kicked the conversion.

After 25 minutes, a spirited attack by Bradford was brought up short, but from the resulting ruck a Westbury player was penalised for hands on the ball and Bradford took the 3 points on offer.

It wasn’t long before Lee Moore scored his second try when prop, Daniel Haines, thundered over the try line but could not ground the ball, being held up, but Moore ripped the ball from the prop to ground it for the try.  The conversion was added by Higgins.

The final score of the half came from Jamie Comely who picked the ball from the back of a ruck and taking a couple of Bradford players with him muscled his way across the line.  Once again Higgins added the two points.

Half time Westbury 31 Bradford on Avon 2nds 3

The second half started in the same vein with Westbury again pressuring the Bradford try line and when the Bradford full back kicked for touch, a quick thinking Matt Inseal took a quick throw into centre Dan Gould who with the defence stretched, danced over the line, Higgins once more adding the extra points.

10 minutes into the second half winger, Nathan Hudd, was sent to the bin for foul play.  Bradford took the opportunity, with the home side a man down and the defence in disarray scored a well-constructed converted try.

Matt Inseal scored his second try when the ball was ripped out of a Bradford maul shipped to Inseal who using his pace ran through the visitors’ defensive line to score a converted try.  After 65 minutes full back, Nigel Kershaw, who was having a ‘Man of the Match’ performance in both attack and defence, decided to join the try fest and scored a scintillating individual try which he nonchalantly converted.

The last try of the match was scored by Nathan Hudd, who eager to put right his 10 minutes in the bin, intercepted a Bradford pass and ran the length of the field to score, but the conversion was missed.  The match was finally put to bed with the last kick of the game to bring the score 60  –  10.

Westbury will be happy with the nine try haul with some good interplay between forward and backs.  It must be said that Bradford 2nds, although conceding the 60 points, never gave up and all through the game threatened to add to their points tally.

Man of the Match  –  Nigel Kershaw.