Hornets v Clifton

All but one of the Clifton U15s were up later than usual to face Weston Hornets in the Bristol Combination Cup quarter final. Tom Sims however, noticing the importance of the game, showed up 3 hours before kick-off much to most of the boys' amusement.

The game was played on Weston's 4G pitch which many of the boys had played on during half-term, and this opened the game up and made it slightly quicker than usual.

Clifton ran in 5 tries in the first half, showing some great continuity all over the pitch. Sam Read and Sam Costley were stand out, showing great pace to score 2 tries each, one of which involved good play from both of them.

A good cross-field kick from Hugo landed right in their winger's hands, to then get knocked out by a thumping hit from Sam Costley. Sam Read was then on hand to pick up the pieces and score.

Another notable performer in the first half was Dougie who put in a try saving tackle on their winger, and generally covered every blade of artificial grass in defence.

A good first half performance gave Clifton a 31-0 lead to try to build on in the rest of the game.

The stand out performance in the second half came from Tom Dibble who used the speed that we all knew he had to great affect.

Firstly he scored from 60 metres out, fending off half their team on the way and, minutes later, he nearly repeated the feat but was hauled down close to the line. However he then gave a nice offload off the deck to Hugo who set Sam Sproull up to score which made it 43-0.

Another nice passing move from the backs allowed Sam C to cross for his hat-trick and with that the scoring was concluded, but the drama wasn’t, and tempers began to flair from both sides. As a result of this the game was brought to a swift close, ending 50-0 to Clifton.

This win sends us through to the combination cup semi-final for the third season running, and sets us up nicely for our next two Gloucester Cup games, against Hucclecote and Painswick.

Herbie Gale