Sat 11 Dec 2021, 14:15
Midsomer Norton 19 - 24 Cheltenham
On a dark December day at Norton Down Midsomer Norton hosted Cheltenham Tigers in an entertaining thriller that went to the last play of the game.
The 2 sides seemed evenly matched on the day with strong set piece throughout with a high contest and battle at scrum time.
It was Cheltenham who got off the mark first early in the opening 10 minutes of the game with a try from there backline + a piece of individual brilliance seeing the Tigers rapid winger step a number of the Norton backs to touch down under the posts. With the wind blowing strong down the slope Cheltenham kicked well for territory taking full advantage of the new 50-22 laws putting continuous pressure on Norton. However Strong defence from Norton and Cheltenhams I’ll-discipline allowed Nor back into the game
Nor answered back in the first half as they took advantage of numerous penalties to kick to the corner, finally setting up a catch and drive using flanker Sam Church at the front of the lineout - a great nudge in the maul gave Cheltenham no choice but to collapse illegally resulting in a penalty try to Nor and a sin bin of a Cheltenham forward. Taylor adding the extras along with a penalty saw the half time score at 12-14 in favour of the visitors.
Norton began to take advantage of the elements playing down the slope with the wind behind them. James Abbott kicked well from hand throughout the match as Noah Watts looked dangerous under the cross field kicks. Nor having the upper hand for the majority of the 2nd half allowed Taylor to slowly keep the scoreboard ticking over including a long range Pen allowing norton to lead with 8 minutes to play with the scores at 24-17.
Cheltenham then began to show why they are sitting just behind league leaders Matson in 2nd place, with an explosive finish to the match taking the scores level using some hard resilient ball carrying up the slope, desperately scoring to take the scores level with a fantastic conversion from the touch line,24-24.
It was Cheltenham’s momentum that saw them through the final minutes of the game. More hard persistent got them another try right at the death to take the victory away from Midsomer Norton who would have been gutted to lose so narrowly at the end.
Midsomer Norton now sit 6th in the table of Western Counties North, looking for a win on the road to Chipping Sodbury this Saturday in hope of seeing the year out on a high.
