Nailsea & Backwell Colts eased to a comfortable 29-12 win over Hornets Colts last Sunday.

Following a heavily disrupted close to 2021, Nailsea were able to put out a strong squad to face Hornets in what is traditionally a tough match.

Hornets did not disappoint and despite a fast start from the young Ravens, they were able to turn over the ball near the Nailsea 22m, spin it the width of the pitch for Sam Smart to run in from distance.

Not only was the Hornets handling strong and pace out wide difficult to deal with, Nailsea also struggled to utilise their own set piece ball, with a number of scrums and line outs not going to plan.

But as the game wore on, the North Somerset outfit began to exert ever greater control, with Sam Chidzey making excellent decisions from 10 and the powerful centre partnership of Harry Tiernan and Adam Penny proving a real handful in both defence and attack.

Sustained Nailsea pressure eventually provided an opportunity for Chidzey to put in a sublime cross-field kick which was well gathered by Ben Atherton on the wing who showed excellent footwork and pace to skip around two defenders to dot down in the corner to make it 5-5.

The hosts continued to make great use of the kicking game to gain territory and get in behind a strong Hornets defence.

Openside flanker Harvey Davis – a dynamo causing all sorts of problems at the Hornets breakdown – latched onto such a kick to make the scores 10-5.

Nailsea began to take control of the game with the set piece was functioning better and improved ball retention meant they could manufacture more attacking opportunities.

After a just such an assault on the Hornets line the returning Adam Penny was able to bulldoze his way over to take the scores to 15-5 as the half came to a close.

Hornets came out strongly in the second half and scored again through Patrick Nkeng to edge closer to Nailsea and move within points

But from that point on Nailsea controlled the game in every three facet and played a very physical side with great composure to manage the game out.

Tries from replacement hooker Dan Hill and scrum half and captain Connor Mobbs were both converted by Full Back James Warren to complete an assured display from the entire squad.

The Colts will take great confidence from their win as they go into preparation for their next match against Old Bristolians this weekend.