Henley Wanderers 3 - 12 Taunton RFC

Taunton are through to the last eight of the West section (the third round) of the EDF Energy Intermediate Cup and the win exacts revenge for their 21-23 defeat at Henley in the first round of the competition a year ago.

Apart from the result, they will be happy to forget their away day in Oxfordshire.

They outscrummaged the opposition and had the better of their South West 2 (East) opponents in the lineouts but they couldn't string passages of play together.

Their handling was often dreadful and they continually put themselves under pressure that should have been avoided.

But their defensive abilities shone through. Once again, they denied the opposition a try, the fourth time in their eleven matches this season they have shut the door to their try line.

It's often said that defence wins matches and this was a prime example. The barricades were manned and the enemy denied.

At one stage, Taunton were down to 13 men with both No.8 Tom O'Keefe and hooker Boschie Muller in the sin-bin for technical offences but their numerical disparity made no difference - the line was protected.

Taunton took the lead in the first half when O'Keefe used his pace to sprint over from the base of a scrum for an unconverted try.

Henley responded with a solitary penalty before the interval and it looked as if that might be the final scoreline until the very end of the match.

Centre Ben Hunt had other ideas; he burst clear to unload to Etienne van den Brink on the home 22. The scrum half touched down near the posts and his half back partner Jon Martin slotted the conversion. Job done.

This backs to the wall performance was enough to join the shake-up for the next cup battle on December 8th. Before then there are two league matches; Yatton at Hyde Park on Saturday and Brixham at the seaside on December 1st. The last league fixture before the New Year is in North Devon against Barnstaple on December 15th.

A few weeks ago, Jerry Collins, the All Black's flanker, turned out for Barnstaple Seconds at Newton Abbot. After the World Cup, he had decided to visit friends in North Devon, including his girlfriend who lives in Braunton, and ended up in the red shirt of Barum.

He will wear their red socks when he plays for Barbarians against South Africa next week - hopefully he will be back in New Zealand before Taunton meet Barnstaple 1st XV.

Okay, so he's not qualified to play but it would make a great story!

Bill Luckett