Sun 4 Oct 2026
RFU National U18 Boys Cup
Hornets Colts 31 Winscombe Colts 29
Hornets began their National Cup campaign with a thrilling victory over a strong and confident Winscombe side at The Nest on a sunny Sunday afternoon in October.
A nervous opening saw Winscombe capitalise on Hornets’ early errors, scoring a converted try to take the lead. Hornets soon found their rhythm, however, and dominated the next 20 minutes.
Ciaran Cawson touched down following a powerful maul from the Hornets forwards, with Corey Morrissey adding the conversion. A sweeping attack then saw Albert Stoyanov produce a brilliant pass to put winger Keagan van Rooyen into space.
The speedster still had work to do, but he stepped two defenders before squeezing in at the corner. Morrissey once again added the extras.
Powerful centre Ollie Taylor then burst through the Winscombe defence to extend Hornets’ lead to 19–7. Despite their impressive spell, Hornets allowed Winscombe back into the game, conceding a converted try and a penalty before half-time to leave the score at 19–17.
Hornets emptied the bench at the interval and took time to settle, allowing Winscombe to regain control. Two well-taken tries, one of them converted, saw the visitors move 29–19 ahead.
With time running out, Hornets rallied. Led by Joel Massey and Marlowe Edwards, they worked their way deep into Winscombe territory. Sid Wiltshire produced a sublime offload for Archy Allen to score, bringing Hornets back to within five points at 24–29.
Another powerful Hornets attack followed, and captain Kaden Lampard levelled the scores with a close-range try. Corey Morrissey held his nerve to land a difficult conversion and put Hornets in front.
Winscombe had one final opportunity to snatch victory with a challenging touchline penalty attempt, but it fell short. Hornets held on for a memorable 31–29 win.
