The Colts enjoyed a rare wednesday evening fixture under floodlights at North Petherton which produced a thrilling game of rugby.  Both sides were up for the contest and the first contacts were huge and aggressive. 

Referee Mike Derbridge set out his stall early with the sin-binning of Max Harvey after 1 minute 12 seconds for an alleged dump tackle.  Despite being a man down, Ivel managed to exert pressure on their opponents line and Jason Dunn crashed over at short range for Ivel to take the lead. 

Ivel continued to pressure and were keen to move the ball through the hands.  Unfortunately this tactic led to an interception which saw the North Petherton player sprint three quarters of the pitch to score under the posts which was duly converted.  With a full complement of players Ivel threw themselves at the opposition resulting in another powerful Jason Dunn try. 

Some poor communication around the scrum in the Ivel 22 saw Pethy cross the line again which went unconverted.  The game continued end to end with both sides running hard and tackling equally as hard.  Max Harvey, keen to make up for his 10 minutes on the sideline, displayed some powerful running at inside centre and met with some reward when he went over to score a try which he converted himself. 

Again Pethy came back hard and almost envitably in this game scored next to level the score at 17 all.  Once again Ivel pressurised the North Petherton defence from the re-start and Rob Burnell, leading from the front as Captain, made a searing break resulting in a score from 40m.  This was converted by Max Harvey.  To their credit North Petherton had no intention of throwing the towel in and again came back hard at the Ivel youngsters.  This pressure told and North Petherton scored a converted try to level the scores at 24 all. 

Under 16 James Donnelly had come on in the last 15 minutes and his vital try saving tackle stopped Pethy stealing the game away from Ivel.  This dramatic game saw the lead change six times and the final score of 24-24 was probably a true reflection of two, keenly matched teams who did both of their clubs proud. 

A bonus for the Ivel Colts was that all the U17s playing (Christian Pipe, Ash Dyhouse, Ash Pippard, James St Clair and Sam Reeves) were all invited to the Somerset U17 trials this weekend, a fitting reward to the hard work that the lads have put into training and their development during a hard league campaign.

The next stage of the Dorset & Wilts U18 Championship Bowl competition continued with the visit of Wootton Basset Colts, another side that the current Ivel Colts have never played.  Unfortunately for the Ivel Colts, as a Somerset side, their further progress in the competition had been halted earlier in the week due to a technicality as the competition is apparently for Dorset and Wilts clubs only, even though Ivel has participated in the D&W Colts leagues for several years. 

Ivel used this situation to motivate themselves and show everyone that they are amongst the best in this group.  Ivel fielded a strong team but with a lack of forwards that saw scrum half Joe Donnelly packing down in the back row whilst Tom Flynn carried on his good work at scrum half from last week.  Wootton Bassett opted for a mauling game which had limited effect whereas the Ivel Colts philosophy of moving the ball amongst all 15 players bore dividends with a scoreline at half time of 24-0, with tries coming from Rhys Biggin (2), James St Clair and a first score for winger Sean Stockton, Tom Flynn weighing in with two conversions. 

At half time the need to up the intensity was stressed and in the second period Ivel started to dominate and move the ball well although several opportunities were missed when simple hands would have seen the scores rack up.  Ivel continued to show enterprise throughout the half which saw the confidence to play with the ball in hand grow as the Wootton Bassett heads dropped.  Try scorers in the second half were replacement centre Tom Jones (2), James St Clair, Andy Hill and Rhys Biggin, with Flynn and Pippard adding a conversion each.

  The final score of 53-0 was a fair reflection of the dominance of the Ivel side.

Taunton were the opposition for the last game of the season for the Ivel Colts.  Coaches Ian Smith and Tim Harvey used the opportunity to blood several Under 16 players who make the transition to junior Colts next season. 

The starting 15 reflected the mix of players and from the start it was evident that win, lose or draw the Ivel youngsters were determined to play with some pace and ambition.  Up front Ivel were physical and aggressive and it was no surprise that Captain and No8 Rob Burnell went over for a try, being driven over in a classic Leicester-esque style drive.  Soon afterwards Jason Dunn powered over for another trademark try, unstoppable from 5 metres. 

Ivel's indiscipline around the contact area allowed Taunton to get onto the scoreboard with a well struck penalty but almost immediately some strong running through contact by Burnell opened up the Taunton defence and the ever-present Ash Dyhouse was the recipient of some unselfish play from the skipper.  Once again poor ruck discipline cost Ivel 3 points which spurred Taunton on and some persistent pressure on the Ivel defence bore dividends for the county town side when they crossed late in the first half to an unconverted try.  At the turn around Ivel were leading 15-11. 

Despite the regular substitutions there was no discernable difference in play from the Colts and indeed the new players were comfortable and seeming to be enjoying the experience.  Half backs Jordan McGee and Dom Barnes were a fantastic example of this. 

In the second half the Ivel players raised the intensity and some hard running from centres Rhys Biggin and Conor Hartley caused problems for the Taunton midfield resulting in a superb effort from Biggin which was converted by Barnes who was distributing the ball well at fly half.  Not to be outdone by his older centre partner, Hartley showed that he also had the skills to cross for a well taken try, again converted by Barnes. 

At this point the Ivel coaches really turned up the heat on the opposition by introducing the majority of the senior colts to the game.  The increased physicality was immediately evident and the forwards began to dominate the contact areas.  The offload game which has been so effective for the Colts was superbly demonsrated for Dyhouse's second try which was testiment to the hard work the lads have put into this area.  Max Harvey duly converted. 

The traffic was all one way now with Burnell going over for his second, converted by Harvey.  The next try illustrated the confidence with which the colts were now playing.  Good quick ball saw Max Harvey fire in a beautiful crossfield kick which winger Andy Hill caught perfectly to go over for the score, again converted by Harvey.  Almost envitably Dyhouse, who was everywhere, went over for his hat trick, again converted by the hugely accurate Harvey. 

The final score of 57-11 was a great way for the senior players to end their time as Colts, particularly as throughout their rise through the age groups they had never ever beaten Taunton - close on many occasions but never a win. 

Under 16's Dom Barnes, Martin Evans, Conor Hartley, Christian Hignett, Jordan McGee and Ben Watkins all stepped up to the mark and displayed some great potential for next season.  For two of the other under 16s the game was particularly special in the fact that Craig Dunn and James Donnelly played alongside their brothers Jason and Joe and did themselves, and their families very proud.