Sat. 16th Nov. Southern Counties South Frome 33 Walcot 17
Frome RFC welcomed old rivals Walcot RFC on Saturday (16th) and there was a familiar face in the ranks of the Bath-based side, with ex-Frome RFC coach, Kevin Moggridge, now in charge of the visiting side.
Frome started positively playing up the slight slope and struck first after 20 mins through a Darrell Thompson penalty. The visitors replied straight away when their Fly Half found the Winger unmarked, with a cross field kick to score out wide, for an unconverted try.
Frome continued to press and after a penalty from a Scrum regained the lead.
Both sides continued to work hard but the only other score in the first half was another Thompson penalty to give Frome a 9-5 lead.
Frome started strongly in the second half and exerted pressure in the visitors’ half, which coincided with another penalty at the breakdown, which Thompson converted with aplomb.
Frome’s pack continued to carry hard into the opposition half led by Prop Elliott Bowler and Flanker Ross Toton, which resulted in Frome setting up a number of rucks close to the line, leading to Second Row James Howard crashing over to score Frome’s first try.
However the visitors continued to threaten and responded with a converted try to keep in touch with the home side. The Frome men then won a line out on the edge of the visitors’ 22 and set up a move from the training paddock which allowed Bowler to spot a gap with pace and step the Fullback to score a converted try under the posts.
Walcot responded again with Frome down to 14 men following an offside penalty on the line; they created an overlap out wide for the Winger to score.
However Frome were not finished and with time running out, a great break by Inside Centre Mike Rutt resulted in the ball being held up over the line. From the resulting Scrum, No. 8 Stevan Randall picked up but was stopped short of the line, however quick thinking saw Prop Kieran Storey on hand to score the try which was converted by Thompson to complete his personal tally of 18 points
Special mention must go to replacement forward Michael Duppa-Miller who made his first Frome RFC 1st XV debut.
Following the weekend’s fixtures Frome move to third place and on Saturday (23rd) travel to 11th place North Dorset RFC, and having lost and drawn to the Gillingham side last season, Frome will be looking to secure the win.
