Ivel had a full squad to choose from on a day, and a pitch perfect for rugby. The players were in a positive frame of mind even after last week’s loss to Castle Cary.

Three minutes from kick-off and Ivel secured quick ball from a ruck. Hooker Joe Stelmaszyk looked up and saw a gap in the defences. He burst through to score. Despite the conversion being missed Ivel were determined to keep progressing forward. This was confirmed when, after ten minutes, Ivel secured a scrum ball against the head. Number eight, and captain, Ed Mason picked up the ball. He fed Head Coach Martin Cole who stormed through the opposition. Cole handed off the last defender to score. Again the conversion was missed. After eighteen minutes Ivel lost back-rower Andrew Cook to an ankle injury. Youngster Luke Thomas came on to replace him. Ivel’s forwards held their shape to dominate at the next scrum. From five metres out they pushed over the line with scrum-half Barry Law managing to touch down. Emlyn Kuhn scored the conversion. Minehead had barely had time to recover when Ivel were back at them. Kuhn chipped the ball over the top of the defence and Mason was first to the ball. He beat the last defender to score. Four minutes later and Ivel’s intelligent play proved effective. Ash Hellier stole the ball when it came loose at a scrum. He made distance before off-loading to winger Simon Taylor. Taylor sprinted past his opposite number to score in the corner. Then came what could have been an issue for Ivel. Scrum-half Law was sin-binned for retaliating to a high tackle. This was Minehead’s opportunity to get on the score sheet. But Ivel denied them with some stout defending. Defence that was turned into attack when Cole intercepted a pass. He made metres before passing to Hellier who skinned the defence to score.

Half-time     Ivel    32         Minehead     0

Ivel made some changes at half time with Jason Dunn and Derek Smith replacing Roger Law and Mike Woods. With Smith coming on Stelmaszyk moved on to the wing. Ivel also made a tactical positional switch with the returning Barry Law moving to full-back and Kuhn moving to scrum-half. Ivel took time to adjust to the changes and Minehead benefited. They exerted pressure on the home side’s line and scored a push-over try, the conversion was missed. Ten minutes later and Ivel were forced into another change. Following a good Ivel move forward Jack Barrow was floored in a tackle. He was taken from the pitch with a neck brace on (thankfully nothing serious – just a precaution). He was replaced in the forwards by Dave Leyes. For the next fifteen minutes neither side scored, but then Hellier intercepted a pass and, using footballing skills kicked the ball through. He picked up and ran nearly three-quarters of the length of the pitch to score. Kuhn scored the conversion. The next points came from the visitors who secured another push-over try. The conversion was scored. Ivel came through with a great move next. Kuhn secured the ball, he passed to Alex McGuinn. McGuinn found Stelmaszyk racing down his outside and the hooker turned winger out accelerated the defenders to score. McGuinn converted. The match wasn’t finished though. With three minutes, plus injury time, remaining Minehead put pressure on Ivel’s defence. They secured a scrum on Ivel’s 22. Mason managed to get the ball; he ran forward then passed to Taylor. A fifty metre chase then followed as three defenders tried to stop the winger’s run. But they couldn’t catch him. He scored Ivel’s ninth try of the match. The visitors managed one more score before the end of the match when they kicked over the top of the home defence, got to the bounce of the ball first and scored a try. The conversion was secured.  

Full Time      Ivel Barbarians 2XV   51         Minehead Barbarians 2XV  19