Clevedon 16 Hornets 13
2nd March 2003

Back to 1st XV fixtures Clevedon settled down quickly in this cup tie and had the early chances but gave away too many penalties on the ground. Having applied all the early pressure the final pass went astray or the Hornets defence held out. From a scrum a break by scrum half Steve Johnson put away Tom thie with a long pass who had the outstanding Owen Biggins on his shoulder to score a well worked try in the corner. Hornets hardly ventured into the Clevedon 22 with Clevedon attacking on all fronts. Before the interval Steve Johnson increased Clevedon's lead with a penalty. The second half started badly for Clevedon with a clever kick off going wrong, which put Clevedon under pressure. Clevedon defended their line well but eventually conceded a penalty, which was kicked. Steve Johnson hit back immediately with a penalty to keep Clevedon 11 - 3 up. Hornets came more into the game as Clevedon's forwards began to tire after the hard Exmouth game 24 hours earlier. Bad luck hit Clevedon when their inspirational skipper Jeff Durant left the field. But to Clevedon's joy Tom O'Rourke intercepted a pass and ran in from forty metres for a try. Hornets hit back and with a lack of verbal control from Clevedon, Hornets forced Clevedon back two concede to late tries from good rolling mauls. Clevedon hung on for a win and a memorable weekend. Match day photos can be found here Next Saturday Clevedon are away to Hornet's in the league, kick off is at 2:30pm. Back to 1st XV fixtures