Home News Contact Us Committee Our Location Sponsors & Affiliates Links The Italian Job The Club Devonport Services 20 Minehead Barbarians 19 They say that a week is a long time in politics but come the end of the season a couple of minutes at the end of this game could have serious repercussions in the final league standings, the Barbarians having gone down by a point in the 8th minute of injury time in a game  during which they had never been behind until then. Both sides started at a frenetic pace on a sticky surface but it was 25 minutes before  Minehead took the lead with a super try . Scrum half Martin Cook made a blindside break on his own 22 and found centre Mike Hutchinson who  showed his undoubted quality  in 40 metre break before releasing Jack Claydon on the left wing to sprint round under the posts. Hutchinson converted.  The familiar pattern of recent weeks of Minehead being on the wrong end of the penalty count for failing to stay on their feet at the breakdown was beginning to emerge and  the Services pulled back with a well struck kick at goal.  Minehead continued to look more dangerous in open play and Simon Avison making a welcome return seized on a loose pass in midfield and set off to make 50 metres to the line, selling a clever dummy to wrong foot the converging defence , just when it looked as though he would be overhauled. The kick failed but Minehead were 12 – 3 up. . With the penalty count rising the referee issued the yellow card threat and lock Dave Webber was unfortunate to be pulled into the ruck and carded seconds later , leaving Minehead a man short for the remainder of a half which ran 55 minutes on the clock . The pressure on the scrum eventually told and after a series of scrums right on their line they were wheeled and Devonport scrum half and former Minehead player Martin Symes darted over.  The points were added to leave Minehead  12- 10 ahead at the break. The second half saw a relentless rise in the penalty tally which rose to 14 to 1 against Minehead by the final whistle and meant they were continually pegged back, but another break and quick hands in midfield again saw Jack Claydon away to score under the posts for Hutchinson to convert and open the gap to 19-10. Devonport responded with a determined forward display  , keeping Minehead pinned back in their own half where they showed their tactical naievety in failing to find touch and gifting possession to the home side’s best player and full back who began to have a big influence on the game and sure enough he hit the line at pace  to bring things back to 15-19. Still Minehead did not  learn the lesson and paid the price when yet another failed clearance found the full back who this time set up a move down the the left touchline  enabling his support runners to link up and work an overlap which saw their winger score a crucial winning try . Colt Pete Deary made an impressive debut in his first start at number 8 and the whole team played their hearts out only to have to swallow the final bitter pill of disappointment. Team K Priddle, O Thomas, M Hutchinson, S Avison , J Coates, M Cook, M Cherry, J Harris, R Lewis, D Webber, R Cox, T White (Capt) P Deary , R Henson,/ Rep .S Ford , C Howells , F Little. HOME    1XV    2XV   STAGS   COLTS   PAST P & S   MINIS   NEWS   CONTACT   COMMITTEE    LOCATION   SPONSORS   LINKS    GALLERY   DOWNLOADS   HISTORY               Discover Websites     1st XV      2nd XV      STAGS       COLTS BACK TO MATCH REPORTS Minis and Juniors Sponsor