Honours even in New Year clash

Happy New Year all!!

Torrential rain on Saturday ruled out use of the home club pitches and meant a short relocation to the school to host our traditionally strong opponents from Taunton.

A combination of a cold, damp morning, a heavy pitch and the Christmas break meant the game was never going to be a free flowing event for the purist but what did develop was a hugely committed battle between two sides who were determined to start the New Year in winning style.

The scoring developed on a blow for blow basis. Clevedon drew first blood with a magnificent individual effort from Adam who showed huge determination and a great turn of pace to burst past a number of would be tacklers and sprint in for a superb try which was duly converted.

Taunton quickly established a dominance in the set piece that they weren't to relinquish throughout the contest and they were soon level with a try in the bottom corner excellently converted by their scrum half. Clevedon retook the lead when Ethan changed the direction of an attack and floated a pass out to Harry Lyon who showed his customary finishing prowess by powering over in the corner for a 12-7 lead.

Once again, Taunton hit back with their centre eluding a couple of attempted tackles and racing 25 metres to level the scores heading into the half time break.

Clevedon took the lead for the third time ten minutes into the second half when some strong tackling forced a turnover and quick passing freed Jamie who sprinted over. The attempted conversion was a fine effort but struck the far post and bounced away.

As expected, Taunton fought back strongly and it took some desperate defence to deny them before, with minutes remaining, their big number 8 crashed over for a deserved try to level the scores with the resulting conversion being pulled wide from an acute angle. From the restart, some tired tackling saw the Taunton centre making major inroads into the Clevedon half but from that point some magnificent defence deep in the home 22 ensured that the try line remained unbreached as the referee's whistle signalled the end of a great game.

There were some superb tackles in the final moments with Dane, Liam and Luke Palmer to the fore but every man played his part in showing a real desire to maintain the season's unbeaten home run. Taunton were well drilled and strong opponents as anticipated and a draw with a couple of our key forwards absent and others playing but under the weather was certainly no mean feat in the circumstances.

And a thought to leave you with. The first time I watched this side was exactly 12 months ago in January 2013 when Ethan made his club debut at home to Taunton. That game ended in a substantial defeat and neatly illustrates just how far the boys have come under John and James' guidance over the past year.

Next up - Winscombe away on the 11th.