It’s been six weeks since Wellington 2nd XV had a game and a degree of rustiness was expected against a useful looking Chedder side, writes Graeme Smith.
This was not to be the case on a very wet and heavy pitch as Welly ran out 52-5 winners at Cheddar in the Counties 3 Somerset South.
Within five minutes of kick off, Welly were awarded a penalty 10 yards out from the Cheddar line. A quick tap and go from the electric Mikey Taylor presented captain Andrew (Ange) Bellamy an opportunity to crash over for the first points, extras added by Taylor.
It was one-way traffic then for the rest of the half. Evan Greening raced in from half way a couple of minutes later, extras by Taylor.
Louis Justice powered over from 20 yards out and Ollie Pryce, making a guest appearance for the 2’s, scored from a trademark bullocking run.
From the subsequent restart, Welly regathered, and quick hands resulted in Jon Long scoring his first of a brace of tries, the only one not converted in the first half by Taylor.
Mikey Taylor finished the first half, putting a lovely grubber through the Cheddar defence and diving over for the sixth try of the first half.
In the second half, Cheddar rallied and scored a try after camping in the Welly 22 for five minutes.
It was a subdued performance by the Super 2’s in the second half, until 10 minutes before the end of the game, when Pryce burst out the Welly half and after some quick recycling from a couple of rucks, the ball was passed out wide to debutant Colt Ethan Newby.
He gleefully dotted down for his first senior try, which Ollie McCallum expertly converted.
Welly 2’s were now focused and back in the game. Awarded a penalty in the middle of the pitch, Welly opted to kick straight down field into the heart of the Cheddar 22.
Some expert foraging by the Welly back row of Joe Coppin and Jonny Clist, led to the ball being passed out wide to Jon Long, who dived over the line for his 2nd try and the final score of the game.
Final Score 52-5. Another great result showing how far this team has developed over the season.