Davies shows class in second half revival

Trowbridge took a break from league action in this Bath Combination Cup match with Western Counties North team Keynsham. Trowbridge had to withdraw from this competition last season due to fixture congestion during their RFU Intermediate Cup campaign. They gave debuts to Winger Phil Kilcoyne and flanker Aiden Thetheway for this match.
The opening exchanges contained several handling errors and the scorers were not troubled until the 18th minute when Keynsham disrupted a Trowbridge scrum and their No 8 escaped with the ball to run in unopposed from 30 metres to score a try which skipper Paul Edson who gave an excellent kicking display converted to give the visitors a 7-0 lead.
At this point Trowbridge launched their first real attack. Following a Tom Weaver penalty kick into the corner, they won the resulting line out and Niall Jones was driven over for a try, but Keynsham increased their lead before the break when they pounced on a Trowbridge error in defence and centre Gareth Bradnock went over for Edson to convert. Edson kicked a penalty before the break to make the score 17-5 and increased the lead to 20-5 just after the break with another penalty.
Trowbridge introduced several of the old guard after the interval with Lloyd Davis, Adam Sullivan, Dave Martin and Mark Durant coming off the bench. James Davies, who produced Trowbridge's only threatening break in the first half took a pass from Josh Frost and jinked through the Keynsham defence to score from 30 metres out and Lloyd Davis converted. Trowbridge were beginning to boss the game at this point and Keynsham who had dominated in the forwards in the first half began to show signs of fatigue. Keynsham winger Marlon Dorset was sin binned and Trowbridge then brought themselves within a point when after some forward dominance, the ball was moved along the backs and a gap was created for debutant Phil Kilcoyne to go over wide out. A magnificent kick from Davis turn the try into a goal.
A rare visit into the Trowbridge half in the second half then resulted in a penalty goal for the visitors but Trowbridge were not to be denied and a great individual try for Davies was followed by Josh Frost going over for a try after a break and an opening created from Lloyd Davis. Davis converted both tries to give Trowbridge victory in a match that appeared to be out of their reach before the changes made at half time. At times this was a disjointed display interspersed with some promising play by some of the fringe Trowbridge players and so they move on to the semi finals of the competition later in the season. On Saturday they have a home league match against Witney at Doric Park.