MINEHEAD Barbarians II beat a well-drilled Somerton team 27-12 in a Somerset Division Two lencounter on Saturday October 10.

With a large home crowd supporting, they ran in five tries and never letting their visitors settle or trouble them.

Directly from the kick-off they pressed their larger opposition, with fly-half Glen Beaver orchestrating wave after wave of handling moves and the forwards producing quick ruck ball.

Their first incursion resulted in a fine try for the returning Dave Ketchen, who found himself on the end of a sweeping handling move with one defender to beat and outpaced him to score wide out. The difficult conversion was missed by George Newman in his first start for the team.

From the restart, a clean catch by Sean Webber was moved left and quick hands put the much heavier Somerton forwards into a defensive position.

Webber’s well-timed pass found Richard Henson in space and several players on his outside shoulder, but his pass went astray and the speedy Somerton winger raced in to touch down between the posts, and the extras gave Somerton an unlikely 7-5 lead.

However, the more athletic Minehead forwards were dominating all facets of the game, with the lineout work of Webber and Joseph Howells giving them complete control of their own ball and opposition ball at will, while in the scrum Somerton fared little better.

Several scoring chances were squandered before a two-handed catch by Webber at the front of the lineout saw the forwards set up a rolling maul and they drove Somerton over their line with Webber gaining the touchdown. Again Newman narrowly missed a difficult conversion.

From the restart, another Webber take was moved through several pairs of hands and Harry Chinn’s well-timed pass found Charlie Payne in space, he rounded the Somerton fullback and looked inside for the galloping Sean Webber and, despite the attentions of several Somerton defenders, he strolled under the posts. Newman added the extras and Minehead turned round 17-7 up.

Somerton had their best period at the start of the second half and only stout defending by Adam Twine and Zac Mayo prevented a score.

But when Somerton lost one of their props they opted for uncontested scrums and that gave them a foothold in the game, a fine handling move seeing their outside centre go clear and he rounded the Minehead cover to score wide out.

Stunned by this change in fortune, the home side produced the best move of the match.

Quick ruck ball was moved right, Lee Johnson-Smith delivered quality ball to Beaver, and several pairs of sharp hands later, the ball moved to the left. Henson and Ketchen made inroads before a sweetly-timed pass from John Webber found his father in space and he cantered over to score wide out.

Newman’s conversion attempt went just wide, leaving Minehead 22-12 up.

Another fine catch from Sean Webber at the restart and several fine passes had the Somerton defenders backpedalling, Minehead were awarded a penalty for offside and Beaver stroked it to the visitors’ 22 metre line.

Another accurate throw from Howells found the safe hands of Webber, the ball was moved to the back of the maul and an unstoppable surge saw the forwards push their tiring opponents over for the final try, with Webber again gaining the touchdown.

With the conversion attempt going just wide, the final score was a resounding 27-12 victory, and Sean Webber was unanimously given the man of the match award for his outstanding contribution to a much improved team performance.