Tribute Somerset Premier: Winscombe 3, Minehead Barbarians 7 AFTER two relatively easy fixtures Minehead faced their first real test of the season against another team with a 100 percent record and maximum bonus points.

They came away with a narrow win thanks to an exemplary defensive performance of which every man in the side could take pride.

Winscombe opened the scoring with a penalty on 25 minutes when Minehead were caught offside on the 22 but Minehead soon scored the vital try that gave them a 7-3 lead.

Winscombe stopped the original catch and drive from a penalty deep in their 22 only for Richard Henson to charge down the attempted clearance. Their scrum half was caught offside and the resulting penalty was quickly taken, enabling Graham Collins to float an overhead pass to Dan Richardson who crossed the line at full stretch.

Jack Claydon added the conversion to conclude the scoring, although more than a half remained to play.

Minehead survived going down to 14 men just before halftime when Martin Cook was sent to the bin for a late tackle and they showed the same determination in the second half as they repelled repeated Winscombe attacks.

The final action was a Minehead scrum, which they contrived to lose, meaning there was yet another set of tackles to be made by the visitors.

Winscombe came close to crossing the Minehead line three times in the final few phases but when they eventually did they were held up, ending the match with Minehead on top.

On Saturday Minehead host Stotheron and Pitt (3pm).

Tribute Somerset 2 South: Minehead II 29, Tor II 10 MINEHEAD’s second XV maintained their 100 percent start to the season with a home win over Tor.

Dave Edwards, Ronald Webster, Scott Huish and Ash Armet scored tries while Rob Trapnell added nine points with the boot. On Saturday Minehead II's travel to Wells.