Nailsea & Backwell head coach Tony Hill hailed his “special group” of players after they found a way to win the North Someset Derby at Clevedon RFC on Saturday.

Ben Perfect’s hat-trick and further tries from Will Marley and Jamie Sullivan helped the Counties 1 Tribute Western North leaders come from 7-5 and 14-12 down to end up 29-26 winners at Coleridge Vale. 

It was the Ravens fifth successive bonus point victory of the season to extended their lead at top of the table to five points over nearest challengers Longlevens.

“I think it was just everything a local Derby should be, loads of passion, they had some clear dominance around the scrum but this group of players that I am working with, in my opinion they are a special group," Hill said.

"They find a way to win when it doesn’t look like they sometimes they are going to but they find a way. That’s a credit to how hard they work for each other, they are all mates, they are all lads who have grown together.

“It’s very cool and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Despite victory, Nailsea & Backwell had to deal with three injuries in the first half.

Will Marley (collarbone), who did reappear in the second half, Harry Marshall (AC joint) and Nick Badcock (knee) all had to go off in the opening half an hour.

But Hill said he instructs his players to play different positions in training to help them prepare for whatever challenge they face whenever an obstacle arrives during a match.

“Things can go wrong, so at training you have to plan for every single position, you have to put everybody in different positions,” he added.

“So, if something changes in a game you need be ready and prepare to manage.”

Hill continued: “But, again, these are the things that can happen in games. You can either sit around and cry about it or you have got to manage it. 

“We have got some brilliant guys coming off the bench and they went on and gave it everything.

“It was an 18-man effort today but it’s all the lads in training that push this group to get into this first-team. 

“We have use quite a lot of players already this year, which shows our strength in depth.

“Our seconds are unbeaten, our firsts are now unbeaten. It’s a good environment at the moment”