Superb start for Bassett
6:00am Wednesday 12th September 2012 in Latest Sport News By Sam Morshead
WOOTTON Bassett centre David Martin has claimed he and his teammates “proved the doubters wrong” with their 20-13 victory over Frome on the opening day of the new Southern Counties South season.
Bassett lost a number of key players over the course of the summer but still managed to dig deep to score two tries in a tight game at Ballard’s Ash.
Martin was delighted with success on the first day of the new term, telling the Advertiser: “It’s boosted everyone’s confidence to have got a win. Some people were doubting our ability to put up a serious challenge but we’ve proved the doubters wrong and it’s a great start.
“It’s a great confidence booster and we’ll take that into the rest of the season.
“They were tough up front although they probably didn’t play to their strengths.
“Errors probably let both sides off the hook and the scores for both teams could have been greater.”
Bassett were first onto the scoreboard early on in the clash with Frome, with Nick Parker crossing the tryline and David Hogg adding the conversion.
Frome replied quickly with a penalty before the visiting pack forced themselves over the whitewash from a scrum deep in Bassett territory.
Hogg nudged the hosts back in front with a penalty before Frome used their strength up front to barge over following a succession of lineouts and scrums.
With the penalty count high in the second period, the match became broken up, but Bassett managed to find a moment of fluency as winger Andy Phoenix collected his own chip and chase to touch down. Hogg was successful with the extras once again.
Frome were unable to reply and Bassett, who included 11 graduates of their Colts set-up in their starting line-up, could celebrate a return to competitive action with a win.
Elsewhere in Southern Counties South, newly-promoted Supermarine got off to the worst possible start as they lost 75-0 at home to Sherborne.
In the Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier, Dan Cooper scored two tries as Swindon College Old Boys beat Bicester 40-17.
James McLaughlin, Matt McKee and Woody Briggs also touched down for Old Boys, while Scott Buchanan added 15 points with the boot.
