B&ARFC 2nd XV 12, Chard RFC 2nd XV 49 (17/11/12)

After a poor performance in their last outing, Albion started the stronger of the two teams on a sunny day at College Way. Playing with pace and fluidity Andy Hambleton got the first points on the board within 5 minutes after a well worked try in the corner. The tough conversion was missed. Some excellent ball retention saw the home side put together some good phases of play, but yet again the defence lacked structure, allowing the visitors to break from the halfway line to level the scores. Bridgwater let slip again twice before the break with Chard’s well-structured attack breaking down the defence to take the score on to 5-22, and the game was beginning to drift away from the home team.

Albion responded well to this setback, and leading up to half time some intelligent kicking and quick ball provided Hambleton with the chance to score his second try of the match. John Hill slotted over an excellent conversion from near the touchline to take the score to 12-22, and Albion were back in the match.

The promise showed in stages in the first half did not lead to the desired result, as in the second half Chard dominated all areas, scoring a further 5 tries. Mistakes at the lineout and some poor scrummaging consistently put the visitors on the front foot, and despite the relentless efforts of the entire team Albion could not keep up with the pace of play. The final score was 12-49, which was a fair reflection of the game.

This was a gutsy performance from a very young Albion second team, which included 3 colts who had played the previous evening. However there are many areas for improvement and with some consistency in availability there are signs this side can get much better.

Match report by Mitch Windsor

Category: 2nd Previews / Reports -XV, 2nd XV News