Minehead 8

Taunton II 26

AN eagerly anticipated bottom of the table clash saw Minehead Barbarians lost 26-8 at home to a well-drilled and enterprising Taunton II side who belied their lowly position.

Minehead started slowly, but with the wind behind them they gradually settled and coming up to half-time led 8-0.

Fred Bushell had finished strongly to cross wide out after Ryan Nunn broke through in midfield and given a well-timed pass to his determined young winger, and although Wes Pooley was unsuccessful with the conversion he then slotted over a penalty when Taunton were caught offside in front of the posts.

The Barbarians were without lineout specialist Ben Willes, and although young Mat Lynch jumped well, they were unable to establish their usual superiority in this area and failed to win a number of important attacking lineouts having worked hard to take play up to the visitors’ line.

And their failure to turn possession into points with the wind advantage was to prove costly.

Taunton, with some talented young players, showed a willingness to run from deep, but Minehead defended well.

Just when they seemed to have snuffed out one dangerous attack, Taunton seized on a loose ball on the 22 , saw a gap and shot through to go in under the posts, the conversion leaving them 8-7 down at the interval.

Taunton made good use of the conditions after the break and although it looked as though Minehead had covered a promising attack, the Taunton outside centre put in a delicate chip to gather his own kick and go over for a well-taken try.

The conversion was successful, and shortly afterwards they added another converted try to go 21-8 ahead.

Strong midfield running and poor Minehead defence then saw them wrap things up at 26-8.

Despite this lapse, coach Dave Swann will have taken some consolation from a better-organised display and in particular the performance of skipper Ryan Nunn.

He combined well with new Kiwi centre Craig Sutherland, who despite lacking match fitness showed that he should prove an asset to the side.

Tom Lamacraft is rapidly improving and linking well with Richard Henson and Gregg Richards in the back row, and replacement Olly Claydon kept up the tackle count during the closing stages whilst Wes Pooley worked tirelessly at scrum half.

There is no rugby tomorrow (Saturday) because of the World Cuyp Final. Minehead will hope to be back to full strength for their crucial away trip to fellow strugglers Chew Valley on November 7.

Minehead Barbarians: K Lewis, J Langdon, R Nunn, C Sutherland , F Bushell, D Westcott, W Pooley, D Swann, R Saunders, K Roberts, L Parker , M Lynch, G Richards, R Henson, T Lamacraft, C Thrush, D Evans, O Claydon.