BARFC 29, Thornbury 20 (21/11/15)

AN Other | 21/11/2015

Bridgwater’s four try win, in this closely fought encounter that was sponsored by the Bridgwater Town Council, has cemented their second place in the league whilst narrowing the gap with leaders, Camborne, adding spice to next week’s game in Cornwall between the top two sides in the league. Denying third-placed Thornbury any points was the icing on the cake for Bridgwater.
Bridgwater brought in Nick Spellissy in the back row to replace skipper Ollie Dunn who was being rested prior to playing for Bristol A against London Irish on Monday evening. Bridgwater also gave starts to Tom Fournier-D’Albe at scrum half with Scott Franklin going to the bench, Luca Ercolani also swapped shirts with Ethan Trebble-Westlake and Rob Thompson replaced Ali Blundell in the second row.

The game was preceded with both teams paying tribute to Bridgwater Youth Coach, Matt Purdie who sadly passed away last week after a short illness.

Playing with the stiff breeze at their backs, Bridgwater camped in the visiting half, although the visitors had most of the ball as Bridgwater tackled like demons. Chris Ashwin missed two penalties for the home side, one from half way and then a 30m effort that thumped into a post before giving the home side the lead with a simple penalty following a break by Rob Allen.
Midway through the half, Bridgwater stole a Thornbury defensive lineout and, with some slick passing, moved the ball left, where it reached full back, James Martin who cruised over unopposed. Ashwin converted with an excellent kick.

Thornbury then put Bridgwater under a lot of pressure without managing to break through. However, when Bridgwater infringed at a tackle, Thornbury narrowed the gap with a simple penalty by fly half Joe Jackson .

Bridgwater then exerted pressure on the visitors line as Oscar Tregenna was tackled into touch just short of the line as he attempted to finish off an excellent Bridgwater move. Fine line kicking by Tom Fournier-D’Albe kept up the pressure but Thornbury held out. The crowd pondered if the half time score of 10-3 would be enough with Thornbury having the benefit of the elements in the second period.

At the start of the second period, Bridgwater twice kicked direct to touch before another Allen run put the home side on the attack and patient recycling led to Gavin Knight being tackled just short. However, Luca Ercolani gathered the loose ball and crashed over near the posts for a try converted by Ashwin.

Thornbury then put Bridgwater under tremendous pressure but the home side held out. As an attack broke down, home centre, Rob Gurnett gathered a loose ball deep in his own 22 and sprinted almost the length of the field, outpacing the covering defence, for a fine individual try under the posts converted by Ashwin.

Bridgwater brought on all three replacements and James Bryant excited the crowd with a couple of excellent runs. Thornbury pressurised the home side again and should have scored but the defence held out. Mid way through the half, a Thornbury fly hack forward from the Bridgwater 22 caused mayhem in the defence and visiting skipper, Liam Pembertonreacting quicker than the home defenders, pounced on the ball to score. Jackson’s conversion hit the post.

Within minutes, the visitors scored again. A penalty to the home 22 saw Thornbury set up a driving maul which travelled the 20m to the line where No 8, Jack Hussey got the touch-down converted by Jackson. At 24-15, the game was in the balance.

With 10 minutes remaining, An innocuous looking run in midfield by James Martin saw him slip the ball to Gurnett who suddenly found himself in space along the touchline. He sprinted 40m for a fine unconverted try in the corner that assured Bridgwater of a bonus point.

Thornbury threw everything into attack. A quickly-taken penalty was well defended before another quickly-taken penalty by scrum half Jak Evans saw him outwit the defence as he hared over for an unconverted try.

Ashwin and Gurnett combined well for a final Bridgwater attack that was repulsed with a 90m clearing kick that went into touch on the home line. Thornbury could not control the lineout ball and the referee blew for full time – a little early according to many spectators – to end a very good game between two evenly matched teams.

Bridgwater will be well pleased with the final result. Once again the defence was very good apart from being caught by two ‘sucker punches’ that resulted in two tries for Thornbury. The one worrying aspect would be the scrummage, which was under pressure for much of the game. The lineout looked as solid as ever and the backs ran powerfully, none more so than skipper of the day, Rob Allen. The game was well refereed by Martyn Wood, a former England scrum half, who counted both Bath and Wasps among the clubs he represented.

Bridgwater will face the long journey to Camborne with confidence next Saturday before hosting Bideford on December 5th (K.O. 2-30 pm)

Scorers :Bridgwater & Albion
Tries: Martin, Ercolani, Gurnett (2)
Cons: Ashwin (3)
Pen: Ashwin

Thornbury
Tries: Pemberton, Evans, Hussey
Con: Jackson
Pen: Jackson

Bridgwater Team: James Martin, Oscar Tregenna, Rob Gurnett, Garryn Basson, Rob Allen (Capt), Chris Ashwin, Tom Fournier-D’Albe (rep Scott Franklin 49), James Bryant, Gavin Knight (rep Gabriele Nobili 57), Joe Bussell, Rob Thompson, Dan Kemmish, Nick Spellissy (rep Ethan Trebble-Westlake 49), Luca Ercolani, Taylor Buller

Referee: Martyn Wood (Hertfordshire)

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