Frome RFC 1st XV travelled to Bristol to meet Cleve RFC 1st XV as they looked to complete their preseason warm up fixtures prior to the start of the new South West 1 East campaign.
From the kick off Frome started brightly, and looked to move the ball well, however after 2 penalties the home side opted for a kick to the corner, and from the resulting line out the home pack rumbled over for the first try of the day, the conversion going wide of the posts. (5-0)
Frome hit back quickly and after the forwards had gone close on a number of occasions the ball was worked out wide to Winger Bailey Rusz, who broke through a gap and was able to off load to fly half Simon Westlake who scored close to the posts. The conversion being added by full back Darrell Thompson. (5-7)
Led by captain Alex Mallon, the Frome forwards were now dominating the close exchanges and the pressure finally paid off when Thompson skipped through to score a try under the posts, which he duly converted. (5-14)
This however wasn’t to be the last points of the half, when just before the break, the Cleve fly half broke through the Frome defence to touch down over the line, and with the conversion being added, bring the half time score closer. (12-14)
Half Time: Cleve RFC 12 – 14 Frome RFC
The second half began with the visitors starting with a much-changed pack including hooker, Alex Chalmers in the back row and debutant Liam Fletcher moving into the second row, however the replacements continued to maintain the standards set in the first half.
A scrum in midfield saw good movement of the ball by the backline which released Rusz 60 metres out, who then outpaced the home defence to score under the posts for another converted try. (12-21)
Despite a number of changes Frome continued to control the game despite the efforts of the home side. The effort put in by all the players was highlighted even more so when second row, Steve Randall races back 20 metres to prevent the home side scoring after a kick had been charged down. A great effort by all concerned as Frome continue to build toward the South West 1 East league opener on Saturday September 4th at home against Marlborough RFC.
Final Score: Cleve RFC 12 – 21 Frome RFC
Scorers: Try: Westlake (1), Thompson (1), Rusz (1). Conversion: Thompson (3).
We caught up with Frome RFC Head Coach, Toby Culff who had this to say “We were really pleased and excited to accept Cleve’s invitation, and we’ve been looking forward to the challenge.
“Due to some rum luck with injuries over the last two weeks, we travelled with a few unusual and untested combinations in the forwards, lots of new faces, and very little prep. But sometimes these are ideal preseason tests for your pack. Just go out and play hard. Figure it out. Make it work.
“In the backs, we were interested to see if we could continue recent improvements and discover our cutting edge. Again, there are new faces, new combinations, new dynamics, but there’s been a growing belief in training that the threequarters having been closing-in on a positive performance. The hope was that things would click this weekend.
In all respects, this was a very worthwhile fixture. Some of the things we tried were a success, others not, but we learned from the experience, which is the whole point at this stage.
“Most of all, due to yet more injuries in the first half, this fixture eventually became a test of character, courage and game-management for the full squad of 20. In these terms, our captain and our players excelled themselves. Our forwards did figure it out, and our backs did find a much searched for cutting edge. Ahead of our first league fixture at home to Marlborough on Sept 4th, the players should take great confidence from the nature of this performance. Well done to all 20 of them and thanks to the supporters who came to cheer us on.”
Report by Matt Warnock.
