Wells 26 – Hornets 19

A strange sort of game, Wells had a completely dominant scrum, a more than competent lineout, but strangely they seemed to lack possession, especially in the first period.

Turnovers were at a premium. The visitors from Weston-super-Mare appeared to have lots of the ball and indeed it was them who opened the scoring after just four minutes with a penalty.

Fifteen minutes passed before Wells got on the scoreboard, Will Greenman chasing an Aaron Cook chip. Cook converted, but back came Hornets with a penalty.

Some fine interpassing between Tom Payne and Al Knight saw the latter cross for an excellent try, but this was cancelled out when Hornets touched down two minutes later.

Wells then lost their influential outside half, Aaron Cook, to injury and in the final minutes of the half Hornets kicked a penalty to give them a 14 point to 12 lead at half time.

Wells seemed to adopt a more direct approach in the second half and after a couple of minutes spent on the opposition line, Mike Dimaline got the try. To great cheers, Will Greenman converted.

After 65 minutes the outstanding Al Payne picked up at the base of the scrum and went over, Will Greenman again converted, the game seemed over, bonus point all wrapped up.

Hornets were not done, however. Their number eight and scrum half combined brilliantly time and time again behind a retreating scrum to get the dangerous-looking backline into action.

The Wells defence was tested and with five minutes to go it finally broke, try to the visitors. From the restart, back came Hornets looking for the converted try to draw level.

This time the line held, as tackle after tackle was made. At last the relief of a penalty, ball kicked off the field, a satisfying win and a week's rest to look forward to before Wells travel to Avon on December 7.

A good weekend for the Wells club, both first and second teams getting bonus point wins. Also many thanks to the lunch sponsor Bishop Jones.