THIS was good win for the All Whites against a useful Clevedon side.
It was second against sixth in the league, but you would not have known it for the first 20 minutes or so, as Clevedon – a young side bursting with enthusiasm and flair – took the game to the home side from the off and they were soon 12-nil ahead.
In blustery conditions, the game started at a frenetic pace with the visitors shading the 50-50 contact areas courtesy of their quick back row forwards.
In the scrum, they were also giving the All Whites a torrid time, managing to wheel it to their advantage.
All Whites' prop forward James Tichias found himself on the way to hospital for an X-ray on a suspected broken arm after 16 minutes – his replacement, the evergreen Richard Beere, having only just got himself settled on the subs bench.
Clevedon continued to show the All Whites little respect and, on the 20-minute mark, their nifty winger Case scooted in for a try after quick ruck ball was recycled and fed along the line – referee Keeling had a close look at a possible foot in touch before awarding the try, which was no more than the visitors deserved.
They missed the conversion, but were soon attacking again.
From a scrum on the half way line, scrum half Williams slipped a tackle by Alex Lloyd and popped the ball out to the threequarters who, at pace, moved it along the line where winger Case was stopped just short of the 22 yard line. However, he slipped the ball inside to flanker Biggins who raced in for another score to shock the Newton faithful into muted applause.
With the conversion made, the score stood at nil-12 to the visitors from north Somerset.
This had the effect of awakening the slumbering All Whites team. Cane fed the ball quickly to Birkett, who sent a long miss pass out to winger Mike Saxton. He screamed along the touch line before being stopped five metres short, but he managed to hang on for support. The ball was worked back along the line before prop Dowrick popped up in midfield to slip a pass out to flanker George Mills, who legged it to the line for a try.
Saxton made the conversion from wide out to bring the score back to 7-12, which is how it stayed until the break.
After the customary half-time team talk the All Whites looked a different side.
Turning up the pace, they pinned Clevedon in their own half and before long had forced the visitors into an infringement which resulted in a penalty, but on this occasion Saxton was off target.
The home side continued to press and, after 15 minutes of solid pressure, they got another chance to narrow the score line – Saxton's penalty bringing the score back to 10-12.
The All Whites were now dominating territory and possession – Clevedon were forced to infringe again and another Saxton penalty with 20 minuts remaining saw the All Whites in the lead for the first time.
Cane and Birkett were now unleashing the threequarters and soon another penalty opportunity arose and Saxton was on hand to make it 16-12.
Saxton then topped another good day for him by scoring a cracking try. Taking the ball out wide, he scythed his way through the visitors' defence to score under the posts, before slotting the conversion to make the final score 23-12.
All Whites' coach Phil Burford was pleased with his team's attitude after the disappointing result the previous week up at Chosen Hill. He highlighted the second half performance and paid tribute to his players' attitude during training and the build-up to the game.
With tomorrow's Devon Cup game against Brixham postponed until January 2 due to Brixham having to play their league match against Sidmouth – called off due to the adverse weather conditions – Burford has been trying to set up a friendly game against the West Country Warriors at Rackerhayes, to keep the momentum going ahead of the trip to Cullompton on November 28.