With weather like this, it is obvious that God plays rugby. A little warm sunshine, a beautiful pitch having been softened with autumnal rain, sweet green grass and a gentle breath of wind, a rugby player could not ask for more.

Considering the above, it was a shame that Wincanton suffered a few early drop outs pre-match, but with a little juggling, managed to field a full team with subs. However Winky’s suffered an early injury to the hard man gone soft, Tim Dawson (still has the best beard). Thankfully Tim is alright but the game was stopped for 20 minutes so Wincanton had to reset and switch on. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until Midsomer scored and the boys were under the posts that reality dawned. 7-0

Wincanton after the restart began to find a bit of rhythm and string some phases together, but it was in the scrum that the Tigers showed their true dominance, with the outstanding front row dominating their opposition. With a solid base to rely upon, the backs were given the opportunity to use their superior pace to split the defence apart, gaps appeared and the young and brilliant fly half goes over for Wincanton’s first try. 7-7

It remained this way until half time, where some serious re-grouping was required. Wincanton knew that they had so much more to give, we simply needed to switch on, take the bull by the horns and not give Midsomer Norton a chance.

Cue the restart, a couple of good phases by Midsomer and they found themselves 25 meters from the home try line. Suddenly the opposition flanker picks the ball off, shrugs off a couple of soft tackles and 3 minutes into the second half Wincanton are down 14-7.

This lit a bit of a fire and one could feel the Wincanton train begin to pick up steam. A huge tackle Ed Nixon on his grinning opposite man, putting his origami hobby to use in folding grown men in half. Powerful runs from the forwards and special mention to Dolly for flattening his opposition centre and Wincanton began to show what they were really about.
With a couple of turnovers and some kick tennis, the ball found its way into the hands of the most illusive runner on the pitch, Chappy. A few quick phases with the Wincanton fitness coming through, and at one point nearly every Wincanton player touching the ball, Ed Nixon found a little space, made a gap and offloaded to Barry Wood for the second try 14-14.

Again Midsomer struck back, but not before some more furious defense, a trademark of this season. However not even King Knut could hold back the tide, a soft inside shoulder and the opposition were over. 19-14

15 minutes to go and Wincanton knew something had to be done. Man of the match Chappie again had a charge up the centre back to the half way line, a tackle and offload to James CD who quickly passed it to Ed Nixon who linked with winger and Fury look a like Struan, who sprinted down the wing, kept the ball in play, offload back to James CD who did a no look, back of the hand pop to Ed Nixon who gained an extra 10 yards, only to come up short. Quick ruck, a 2 on 1 and Struan scored. 19-19.

With Wincanton now clearly the dominant team and Midsomer just holding on, the scrums went to uncontested. On the restart, Midsomer kicked the ball straight out. Scrum in the middle of the pitch. Ed Nixon picks from the base and runs between the ref and the opposition flanker, straight down the middle, stopped only a few yards from the try line. Then, Wincanton scrum on the 5. The opposition narrowed in preparation for another run, but instead the ball was passed out wide to Wolfy only to just be held up on the line. 2 minutes to go and a try line drop out, Wincanton fought hard but were beaten by the clock. Final score 19-19.

This felt more like a defeat at the fortress, with no winners lounge this time. However Wincanton know where they went wrong and shows the impact poor preparation by the players pre-match has on the game itself. It took us too long to switch on, but we will rise from this, learn from it and move on.

Huge thanks as ever goes out to the amazing volunteers who make days of rugby possible, and it is for these people that Wincanton must do better.

Next league fixture is against a strong Tor II’s side in 4 weeks’ time. Lets go WINKYS