Somerset Division 1
Minehead Barbarians 71, Old Sulians 12

MINEHEAD 1st XV were back on the field last Saturday after a three-week break and produced a dominant display against a depleted Old Sulians side, running in 11 tries and only conceding one, now stretching their win tally to seven in a row.

Conditions on the day were poor, with persistent rain forcing Minehead to keep their attacking moves simple and passes to shorter distances.

Minehead's forward pack again showed its dominance in the league, overpowering their visitors all afternoon at the scrum and making life difficult at the lineout, with Cox his usual self, well supported by Simms and Parker.

After just 10 minutes of fast-paced rugby Lee Owen went over the try line out wide from a well-worked backs move and quick hands.

His try was soon followed by one from Dom Westcott, who ran a sweet inside line off of the experienced Sam Lewis' initial run.

Harris, who had slotted in at hooker, was third on the scoresheet, working a move off Minehead's attacking lineout on the Sulians 22 – Ryan Lewis made the initial break, with Harris in support to cut inside the full-back and go in under the posts.

Old Sulians did come back at Minehead for a period of five minutes and scored a try in the corner through their sprightly scrum-half from close range.

Minehead hit straight back with a stolen line out 15 metres out, which was taken on again by Lewis who was stopped five metres out, with Josh Parker alert at scrum-half to feed Swann, who came round the blind corner behind James Baker's dummy run to crash over just inside the posts.

Minehead struggled to find any rhythm in the first half despite the scoreline, and Old Sulians to their credit did test the Minehead defence on several occasions.

Before the half-time break Kyle Lewis went in out wide from a great display of hands initially started by Westcott, who fed to Ninnis, to Lamacraft on the wing, to then find Lewis who beat his man outside.

Sulians did get the final say in the first half when they were awarded a penalty try from a high tackle by Owen on the winger, and he was sent to the bin for 10 minutes.

Kyle Lewis converted four out of the five kicks in the first half to move the score to 33-12.

Tom Ninnis stood out, making the hard yards at inside centre, and Ross Bradley controlled the game well with a number of testing kicks pushing Old Sulians back into their own half.

In the second half Minehead tidied up their performance and played some fine running rugby with Richard Henson and Ben Willes coming off the bench to give Minehead more mobility and fresh legs.

Ryan Lewis was at the fore all afternoon and picked up two tries, Kyle Lewis got a second, and Sam Lewis, James Cox and Greg Richards each added to the tally.

Old Sulians did not score a single point in the second half and Kyle Lewis converted four out of the six tries for a final score of 71-12.

The A & P Farmer Man of the Match award went to Kyle Lewis for a good all-round performance.

  • Minehead sit third in the table, one point behind Imperial in second, and this weekend will travel to Chew Valley, who are one place below them in the table, for their final game of the 2016 calendar.