Clifton edged out under the lights

The setting for this Pre Christmas West Country Derby was a perfect midwinter’s evening which was still, calm and clear which with a pitch in good condition provided the back cloth for a game under lights with the result in doubt until the final whistle.

The contest was played out in front of our largest gate of the season which include a significant number who had made the short journey up the M5 from Taunton.

The late arrivals may well have missed the opening score. Territorially we had the better of the opening but after 8 phases we were turned over the ball was slipped to centre Nick Mason who left two defenders in his wake as he speed down the wing. He passed to winger Jack Faulkner who cut inside to score under the posts in the second minutes. Full back Gary Kingdom landed the conversion.

Taunton who are having a good season were playing some excellent direct rugby with Mason posing problems. We struggled to contain our visitors but under the influence of centre Dan Wells our defence tightened. We however at the end of the second quarter could not prevent Mason from creating a second try for Faulkner who scored in the corner and the score was confirmed after discussion between the referee and his assistant,

Despite this we were becoming more completive and scrum half George Thomas made excellent which almost resulted in try but did set up a period of pressure which tested the qualities of visitors defence.

Our only reward before the break was a penalty from fly half Luke Blizzard but Kingdom replied with a successful attempt before the break.

Clifton upped the pace of their game after the break and our forwards were dominant for long periods. The qualities of the visitors were fully tested and they also conceded a number of penalties just outside our kickable range.

We narrowed the gap after 48 minutes when we won a line out close to the line and launched succession of pick and drives which ended with hooker Paul Fincken being driven over and Blizzard adding the extras. He went on to kick a couple of penalties while Kingdom landed one which narrowed the gap between the sides to a couple of points.

Taunton were reduced to 14 men when prop Mark Manton was sent to the sin bin after only being on the field for 2 minutes.

We went in search of the winning try but were not helped when Kingdom kicked his third penalty to stretch the lead to five points

In the final ten minutes we kept the visitors defence but the visitors held firm.

Our visitors in recent years have become well known for winning games on the dominance of their scrummaging but in this game it was quality and organisation of their defence which earned them the victory.