Barton Hill 7 - 22 Taunton RFC

Back in October at Hyde Park, Taunton beat Barts by 46-12, so it was no surprise that Taunton completed the double in Fishponds.

The Bristolians were a hard nut to crack in the autumn and they were no less so on their own undulating pitch last Saturday.

They were well outgunned up front and also lacked pace and invention when they occasionally got hands on the ball.

It took Taunton twenty minutes to get off the mark; they struggled at first to make ground up the hill. Jon Martin was off target with an early penalty and his opposite number Matt Richards tried a speculative long range drop without success before Martin banged a penalty into touch.

Barts had no answer to the visitors' catch and drive and Taunton repeated the dose fifteen minutes later. The try scorers, Tex Raratabu and Boschie Muller also featured in Taunton's haul of seven tries in their previous meeting.

Martin converted both tries and added a penalty with 40 minutes on the clock and Taunton looked to be heading for the break 17-0 up.

But there was still time for a bizarre incident which produced Barts' only score. An up and under was marked by Bradley Field under his posts. The referee twice decided that there was no daylight between hand, ball and foot when he tapped to go. An attacking scrum was awarded and after a couple of phases of play, Chris Coots broke through for Richards to convert.

Taunton monopolised the second half but didn't find the downslope and uneven surface the easiest to negotiate. Barton Hill were in no mood to lie down either. Their abrasive defence was not above the odd bit of skulduggery in the dark recesses adding to Taunton's difficulties but there was never any danger of a reversal of fortunes.

Five minutes into the half, Taunton's trademark drive from the lineout rumbled 30 yards, sucking in defenders and then released the ball. Simon Martin, whose distribution and ball retention was excellent throughout, put Field, arriving at pace, into a gap to dive over.

Virtually the rest of the match was spent in home territory but Taunton couldn't turn their pressure into further points.

It was not pretty but it was a win and that was never in doubt.

The top four in SW2 (West) all won and with six games left, Exmouth lead the pack with 30 points, 5 ahead of Taunton who are a single point up on third place Barnstaple. Torquay, who visit Hyde Park on Saturday, are 10 adrift of top dogs Exmouth

Bill Luckett