Second-half blitz not quite enough for battling Clevedon

Tries from Owen Biggins and Oscar James saw Clevedon fight back from 17-9 down to take a 23-17 lead with 20 minutes remaining – but Reds rallied in the final quarter and touched down three times to book a semi-final spot.

Will Carpenter kicked three penalties and two conversions for the hosts to finish with a 13 point haul, while Harley Foley had the final say with Clevedon’s third try of the afternoon on 80 minutes, but it wasn’t quite enough.

The game began at breakneck speed with both sides putting together some neat passages of play – but it was the visitors who struck first courtesy of centre Christian Gervais, who picked off an interception in midfield to go in under the posts with Jack Skelton adding the conversion.

Clevedon almost responded immediately, when Dean Ashfield’s backhanded offload found Aaron Rice who in turn fed Oscar James, but the wing was bundled into touch two yards from the try line.

Carpenter got Clevedon on the scoreboard with a 25-metre penalty, before Skelton replied in kind to give Reds a 10-3 lead, after Aaron Rice had been sent to the sin-bin.

Carpenter added his second penalty of the afternoon with the final kick of the half, to reduce the deficit and send the sides into the break with the score at 10-6 to Reds.

Early in the second-half, Reds number eight Dan Fry exploited a gap in the Clevedon midfield to cruise in for his side’s second try – before a third Carpenter penalty kept Clevedon in touch at 17-9.

But with Rice back on the field and Clevedon restored to their full allocation, the hosts began to find their feet and soon crossed for two tries in ten minutes.

Centre Rice - who put in another eye-catching performance - was the common denominator in both scores on his return to the action.

First, Rice picked an expert line from the blindside to slice through the Reds defence and feed the supporting Owen Biggins – before demonstrating pace and power to bundle through a tackle in midfield and set up Oscar James, who scorched over from 30 metres.

Carpenter converted both to open up a 23-17 lead.

Reds though, were far from finished and hit back with a third try on the hour mark – and one Clevedon will look back on as being soft – with McDonald applying the finished touches and Skelton converting.

Jack Nowell then scored in the left-hand corner, with Skelton again adding the extras, to open up a 31-23 lead – and he scored his second on 72 minutes, when a bouncing ball fell kindly into his lap to all but seal the win for Reds.

There was just time for Foley to dot down in the corner following good work from Joey Tucker and Harvey Russell, but after Carpenter’s conversion drifted wide, the referee brought an end to proceedings.

Clevedon return to league action this weekend with a trip to Thornbury.