BARFC 2nds 63, Crewkerne 14 (14/11/15)

AN Other | 15/11/2015

Bridgwater second team arrived at College Way and prepped themselves for their first game in three weeks after having a break for the Somerset Cup weekend and after a cancelled fixture away to Wyvern. Subsequently, this fixture has been penciled in for 6th February, coincidentally a week before the two sides play each other in Bridgwater. A close game was expected between Bridgwater and Crewkerne who sat in 2nd and 3rd respectively before Saturday’s game.

Bridgwater were without winger James ‘Forrest’ Brakes whom suffered a serious neck injury in the last second team outing. After surgery, Forrest has been enjoying a few weeks bed rest and, miraculously, a room has been plastered and a new skirting board has found itself attached to the wall.

The twos welcomed back John Hill from first team duty at full back and were also graced with the presence of Bridgwater’s very own walking, talking, marine mammal – Robert ‘Dolphin Boy’ Thompson. Dolphin filled in at second row alongside Doug Page-Symonds with Joe Stradling moving to the bench. Stradling however found himself starting the game after Mitch Windsor was injured in the warm up. Mixed reports have left the reason of his injury largely in the unknown. The bookies suggest a close favourite between a sniper in the stands and that Windsor actually cried off due to the risk of altitude sickness currently associated with being a line out jumper for the 2s. Officer Drabble nipped down to meet the 3rds at Morganians to steal Joe Sluman as a replacement for Windsor.

Bridgwater opened their account for the afternoon inside two minutes. After originally losing the kick off, Bridgwater won the ball back after Crewkerne were penalised for not using the ball quickly enough at the back of the ruck. Bridgwater spun the ball from right to left. After Will Kerry drew in a number of defenders to the tackle area he kept the ball alive by popping to James Collings. He freed John Hill up the left hand side who scythed inside the winger and committed the full back before releasing Ryan Barnett down the left hand wing. He had more than enough pace to score the try and veer in under the posts for an easy conversion. John Hill duly added the extras, 7-0.

Ryan Barnett struck again, scoring his, and Bridwater’s, second try of the game. It was scored in much the same fashion as the first after young Bartlett was released down the left wing. He handed off his opposite man and raced into the corner, this time covered by the full back. The far trickier conversion was still nailed by Hill, 14-0.

George Sluman was next on the score sheet but the try was made by Dolphin Boy. A blitz defence caused a Crewkerne handling error and Dolphin swept the ball off the turf with a single flipper. He ran as well on land as he swims in the water and bolted up the field with a Crewkerne winger in hot pursuit. He managed to bat the attempted tackler away a number of times before his 65 metre (ish) run was cruelly ended just outside the Crewkerne five metre line. Both Nick Spellissy and Sluman were in support but Dolphin’s fall favoured an offload to the latter, allowing Sluman to walk over the line and dot the ball down under the posts. Hill converted, 21-0.

Joe Stradling scored his first of a brace after a strong driving lineout was collapsed on the line. Stradling reset and was burrowed over the line with the help of a couple of Bridgwater forwards. This guaranteed Bridgwater the four-try bonus point before half time. Another near touchline kick was nailed by Hill, extending Bridgwater’s lead to 28-0 at half time.

Half time saw some fresh legs in the front row for Bridgy with Adrian Tew replaced by Scott Woolford and Matt Ranson (at hooker again) replaced by Tom Hillman who was making his return from injury.

Crewkerne were by no means done with the game and got some redemption after some sustained pressure from the kick off. Three Bridgwater penalties in the red zone nearly resulted in a penalty try but Crewkerne didn’t need any more assistance from the referee and eventually forced their way over the line. The conversion was good, getting Crewkerene well and truly on the score board 28-7.

At the hour mark George Sluman was replaced by elder brother Joe Sluman who pirouetted his way up the field and out of a number of attempted tackles. Shortly after Denovan opened Bridgwater’s account for the second half which was again converted by Hill, 35-7.

Brett Shaw bagged himself a rare bit of meat and scored his maiden senior try for Bridgwater and Albion. After a strong driving maul, Shaw dropped to the line. Fortunately, the referee was too distracted by the wild scenes of Shaw’s celebration to realise that Shaw was in fact short of the try line. Shaw was ecstatic and marked the occasion by mimicking throwing a sombrero into a mob of his adoring fans before skipping daintily back to his own half ready for the kick off. Hill, a man of steely concentration, was not fazed by the jubilant celebrations and slotted another good conversion, 42-7.

Jay Owens scored his second try in as many games after a long range pass from Hill gave Owens some room on the outside. He demonstrated uncharacteristic pace and raced in to the corner, arriving with enough time to round in and dot down under the posts. Hill converted the simple conversion to extend Bridgwater’s lead to 49-7.

Crewkerne scored their second and final try of the game after they strung together a number of good phases. Their ball retention eventually led to a missed tackle in the midfield and Crewkerne capitalised on the defensive error with clinical precision. The try was converted, 49-14.

Stradling completed his brace after another good driving maul from a lineout. He was launched clear through the edge of the maul by Dolphin and landed gracefully over the try line. Stradling is developing a knack for getting on the end of these pack efforts and has already bagged himself a number of tries in this fashion. The conversion was unsurprisingly nailed again to extend Bridgwater’s lead to 56-14.

John Hill then topped off a superb individual and team performance by scoring and converting his own try to take Bridgwater’s total for the day to 63-14 and his personal tally to 23 points for the game. The try was probably one of the better worked tries of the match. After the domination in the lineout, Crewkerne believed that Bridgwater would utilise their driving maul from 15 metres out. Instead the forwards let the backs have a play and a superb move parted the Crewkerne defence in similar fashion to that of Moses parting the Red Sea. With the centres at sixes and sevens, Hill waltzed through to score near the posts.

Bridgwater were reinstated to the top of the table after the win with a game in hand over Old Sulians, who are equal on points but lie in second place with an inferior points difference. The second team travel to play their counterparts at Wellington next weekend and will be looking to continue their impressive form.

Team: Hill, Barnett, Owens, Kerry, Collings, Denovan, Caddick; Tew, Ranson, Shaw, Thompson, Page-Symonds, Stradling, G Sluman (Capt), Spellissy