Clevedon 47 Matson 13
25th January 2003

Back to 1st XV fixtures Clevedon had a dream start with an astute kick off going to Christian Bushell who scored a try under the posts for Steve Johnson to convert. This upset the visitors who were on the back foot for the early part of the game. A high kick ahead caused chaos in the visitors defence to allow Anthony Fox to score a try, which Johnson again converted. Clevedon were in dominant form and a scrum resulted in a blindside move enabling Bushell to score his second try again Johnson converted. Matson still shell shocked hit back with a penalty. Clevedon playing on the top of their form picked up a loose ball, which put Bushell away for his hat-trick with Johnson converting. Before the break a break by Vailes put Chris Cates over in the corner for Clevedon to lead 33-3 at the break. The second half showed Clevedon go off the boil and relax to such an extent that Matson were allowed back into the game. They duly scored a converted try and penalty making the score 33-13. Clevedon woke up and hit back with a fantastic try by Anthony Fox involving a 70 yard move out of defence. Johnson slotted over his fifth conversion. Clevedon took a quick 22 drop out, which caught the opposition unawares and resulted in a superb try by Chris Page after a mazey run by Bushell, which Johnson converted to make his tally six from seven kicks. With sixty four minutes gone, the game developed into a brawl and the referee blew for full time sixteen minutes early with Clevedon leading 47-13 and hoping to increase their points difference. He abandoned the game for the sake of players safety. The outcome of this incident will be decided by the league hierarchy this week. Match day photos can be found here Derek Lilley has managed to photograph most of the tries and they can be found here. Next Saturday Clevedon are at home to Cleve in the league, kick off is at 2:30pm. Back to 1st XV fixtures