Chard U18s 7

Minehead U18s 31

MINEHEAD Barbarians Under 18s stayed top of the county league when they fought back from a lacklustre start to beat reigning champions Chard 31-7 on Saturday.

They didn’t impose themselves on the home team for the first 15 minutes, allowing them to build up a head of attacking steam.

They were hampered by an injury to centre Tom Willis, who was forced to leave the field after only five minutes, with Hole moving into the centre to cover and Marlow coming onto the wing.

And Chard made the most of this disrupted start by scoring a converted try by the posts.

The Barbarians struck back soon after when Kingston took a strike against the head in the scrum, the ball was moved down the line quickly to Bevins and he powered over in the corner.

They scored again when Pring kicked long into space and Day pressured the full back into a mistake, causing his team-mate to play the ball offside. With a penalty given, Pring took it quickly to himself and dived in to score, Lynch converting.

While the Barbarians had struggled with some areas of their play in the first half, one thing they did very well was gain turnovers by holding up their opponents, both forwards and backs showed good skills in this.

The early part of the second half saw them play their best rugby of the day.

They tightened up and made some changes to the lineout which enabled them to drive mauls deep into the home half.

Now their powerful ball carriers came to the fore, with Boulton, Norman, Leitch, and Floyd making big dents in the defence.

Following a series of forward drives, Morris-Edwards was able to reach the try-line, with Lynch adding the extra points.

And soon after, the same player score another try when, from a lineout, he caught well then twisted and drove himself over to score.

Minehead’s play was not totally focused on the forwards, and a midfield switch move send Hole sprinting towards the line, then the drives from Norman, Floyd, and Boulton allowed the latter to crash over for the final try.

While not their most polished performance of the season, there was a lot for the team to be happy about - another bonus point win, learning to play in a differing style to gain victory, good turnover work and dominant forward driving.

Man of the match was Dan Boulton, who has impressed the coaches this season with his ball carrying and presentation.

The Colts are next at home next Saturday (December 10) against local rivals Wellington and will be hoping for lots of support in their last home match before Christmas.