WELLINGTON 2nds enjoyed complete dominance throughout their traditional festive fixture with Wiveliscombe 2nds, winning 32-0 in the picturesque setting of Plain Pond.

The weather was perfect for rugby and the pitch, although suffering from the recent poor weather, held up for the duration of the match. Wellington had selected a large squad with the notable inclusion of holidaying Matt Bramhall at scrum half and with no recognised hooker.

Scott Davey took over line-out duties with Marcus Westcott deputising come scrum time.

It was clear from the first few minutes that Wellington, who player one league higher, were the better side on the pitch. They were quicker to the breakdown and controlled the ball for long periods, with only some good Wivey defence or a handling error preventing a try being scored.

One dangerous attack down the right flank by Neville Pitman led to the ball being fed back inside to Mike Stanyard who was unfortunate to clash heads with a Wivey player in the process of being tackled.

Stanyard had to leave the field for what was later diagnosed as a fractured cheek bone. Wellington did not let the loss of Stanyard effect their play however. And after some good work by Bramhall, centre Andrew Bellamy dived over the line for the first score of the match. Tom Sargent was unsuccessful with the tricky conversion attempt.

However he made amends for the miss 15 minutes later when he added the extras after the inspiring Bramhall had taken a quick tap penalty and side- stepped his way to between the posts. Remarkably, Sargent managed to miss a carbon copy conversion attempt after Dan Hinton had finished off a slick backs moved and also scored in prime position.

As the teams changed ends Wellington held a 17 point lead and were in confident mood, especially with experienced flanker Simon Bellamy joining his brother on the pitch. He was immediately immersed in the game, running hard at the Wivey players and was rewarded with a try on 55 minutes when he was driven over the line with the help of the Wellington pack.

Unfortunately Sargent again missed the conversion.

Wellington were now in complete control of the match and the loudest cheer of the afternoon from the Wellington supporters came when stalwart club man David Turney dummied and then bounced off a would-be tackler to score from 20 metres.

This was quickly followed by another try for Simon Bellamy, again from a decent way out. Sargent missed both conversion attempts despite much better efforts.

Just as it looked like the flood gates might open a Wivey winger Barry Lockyer found himself on the receiving end of a Mike Steer tackle and fell awkwardly, hurting his neck. The match was held up for several minutes as Lockyer received treatment and eventually the referee decided to end the game early so he did not have to be moved and could await proper medical attention.

Lockyer was taken to hospital in Bristol as a precaution but discharged later that day.

Wellington: Tredwin, Westcott, Lockyer, Hughes, Steer, Harwood, Davey, Perry, Bramhall, Sargent, Pitman, Bellamy, Hinton, Stanyard, Spurway. Replacements: Turney, Bellamy, Dawkins, Page.