Somerset One

Bristol Harlequins 7 Wellington 2nd XV 22

ARRIVING 15 minutes before kick-off, Wellington heard the referee had decided the first team pitch was unplayable, so the match was moved to Harlequins' training pitch.

This was really short and narrow, which favoured the heavyweight Bristol Harlequins team.

With only a five-minute warm-up, and playing uphill, the first minutes of play had Harlequins testing the visitors deep in their 22, but the Welly defence held firm.

After about 10 minutes, Wellington worked their way into Quins' 22 where number eight Ben Hayman picked up and drove on, before feeding the ball out to scrum-half Leigh Cash, who dummied a chip over the top and ran through to open the scoring.

Wellington then sat back for a while, allowing Harlequins dictate play and, after about 10 minutes, Quins scored from a driving maul.

The conversion meant they went in at half-time 7-5 up.

Stern words from skipper Dave Turney refocused the team as they anticipated Quins to be stronger in the second half.

This proved exactly right, as they threw everything, including the kitchen sink, at Welly.

However, showing good skills and hard tackling, the visitors' defence held strong.

With about 15 minutes to go, the younger Wellington side’s superior fitness started to show as Quins' larger side started to leave gaps in their defence.

A few effective rolling mauls moved the home side back into their own 22, and an offside infringement gifted Welly a penalty, which Ricky Marke gratefully converted to give Wellington a slender 7-8 lead.

Cool heads were now needed and smart rugby, so as not to let the lead slip.

From a lineout, Wellington drove deeper, to about ten metres out where the maul splintered.

Hayman was brought down five metres out but the ball was popped to Joe Dyke who was driven over for the score; Marke converted..

Straight from the kick-off, good retention saw the ball fed wide to the backs who opened a gap for George Hodgson to run in unchallenged.

Again, Marke converted and the game finished 22-7 to Wellington.