Western Counties North

Whitehall 19 Wellington 15

WELLINGTON travelled to Whitehall on Saturday with a side that saw several changes from the one who beat Burnham two weeks ago.

Playing with a stiff Northerly breeze at their backs in the first half, Whitehall used the conditions well and Wellington were unable to break out of their own 22.

After five minutes the hosts went ahead with a penalty in front of the posts, followed soon after by an unconverted try to give them an early eight-point lead.

Wellington managed to get a foothold in the game and saw a penalty of their own drift just wide.

On 25 minutes a penalty in front of the posts saw Whitehall ease out to an 11-point lead and the Wellington cause was further hampered by the loss of centre George Hooper to a shoulder injury.

This meant a further reshuffle in the already disrupted back line. Everyone knuckled down and good tackling in defence saw half time arrive with the score at eleven nil.

The second half saw Wellington come more into the game and it wasn’t long before Dan Rottenbury reduced the deficit with a penalty.

Wellington's back line started to make inroads as the forwards got stuck into the home side pack and started to get slightly quicker ball.

A couple of minute’s loss of concentration however cost Wellington dear.

Luke Bereton was hit high across the face in a tackle in his own 22, however when skipper Micky Norman pointed it out, the referee sin binned him.

The resulting penalty made it 14-3 and when from the restart Whitehall took advantage of some weak tackling the game appeared over as a contest.

The last quarter saw Wellington come right back into the game however when Jack Woodland disrupted a home scrum and kicked the ball on he was able to fall on the ball over the line for five points.

Wellington then found themselves defending deep in their own half when winger Alex Johnson intercepted to run seventy yards up field before he was brought down.

George Hodgson kept the move alive and ran in under the posts. Rottenbury added the extras.

With five minutes to go an unlikely win looked a possibility but the Bristol side showed cool heads and kept the ball tight denying Wellington any possession and ran the clock down.

Next Saturday sees unbeaten Matson arrive at the Athletic Ground looking to secure their promotion to South West One West.