Match Report 26 January 2008
Frome 3rd XV 12 Avonvale 1st XV 20
Team Sheet
- Steve Grant
- John Crabbe (Capt)
- Mark Allen
- Danny Witts
- Joe Vowles
- Shawn Russell
- Leon Chignell
- Ben Sparks
- Jason Russell
- Alan Hobbs
- James Cottle
- Steven Bath
- Alex Fereday
- Cory Bourne
- Duggie Burcombe
Replacements
Dave Burnett, Damian Biswell, James Allard, Matt Timbrell
Scorers
Sparks – 1 try
Bath – 1 try
Bourne – 1 try
Hobbs – 1 Pen, 1 Conv
Yet again Avonvale faced a strong challenge from the latest team to find themselves second in the table and, with Frome's second XV having their fixture cancelled late, it was clear that their third XV would be fielding a strong side.
Vale started the game the stronger despite a number of handling errors that would set the scene for the remainder of the game, within a few minutes it was clear that the home side needed time for the new line-ups to learn to play together and an early penalty gave Alan Hobbs the first points of the game courtesy of a well struck penalty.
Frome kicked off with a high swirling ball that was well taken by Joe Vowles and the visiting forwards set up a maul from which Ben Sparks broke free and ran through the disorganised Frome three quarters, holding off a couple of strong challenges to force his way across the try line for a crowd-pleasing solo effort.
With the home side starting to find their way the Vale defence found themselves having to defend well for most of the remainder of the half and provided plenty of excitement with intuitive changes to their game plan including some good kick and chase moves which the home side were fortunate enough to clear from. Eventually the visitors found another way through, or to be accurate, around the Frome defence and winger Cory Bourne flew over the line in the corner to take Avonvale into a comfortable lead at the break.
The second half gave the home side an opportunity to use the gentle slope into the corner of the pitch and the Vale defence held off a number of advances until finally they forced their way over from the back of a maul to give them hope of catching their visitors. Vale then responded with a series of breaks through the tired and somewhat disorganised Frome defence and a cleverly disguised sidestep from Steven Bath opened a gap into which he sprinted and battled through three desperate tackles to stretch out an arm and touch down close to the posts.
Hobbs added the extras to effectively kill off any hope of a home win but Vale failed to deal with a late kick towards the corner and, despite retrieving the ball and setting up a maul within their own 22, the final pass was loose and the ball sat up nicely for Frome to steal a late consolation. The conversion was successful but the referee decided that there was no time to restart and Vale remain clear at the top of the table with the mathematics making it highly unlikely that they will miss out on promotion this season.