banner ad

Imperial 0, BARFC 2nds 44 (23/01/16)

| 23/01/2016

After a convincing win at home against Bristol Barbarians last week, Bridgwater began the first of three consecutive away fixtures at Imperial. A scrappy opening period looked to set the tone for the game until a stolen lineout by front jumper George Sluman on his own 22 sparked Bridgwater into life, a break from Doug Caddick led to Dave Hughes adding to his debutant try last week. Owens started what would be a sour day for Bridgwater’s kickers, missing the simple conversion. More breaks followed, notably from the centre, and with Bridgwater claiming the dominance at the set piece, it was only discipline that prevented them from crossing the line as Imperial were awarded a penalty to clear their lines. The relief was short lived however, as Bridgwater stole the resulting lineout again for debutant James McLaughlan to cross for his first try. The play settled down, neither side able to break out of the midfield until Bridgwater’s robust fly half, James Collings, broke through his opposite man to run himself in. A sterling performance by Kieran Windsor getting the water on to the tiring players paid off, No.8 Joe Stradling picking from the base of a scrum, Owens’ strong run putting Hughes over for his brace and Bridgwater securing the bonus point try before half time. Will Kerry stepped up to kicking duties and duly added the extras.

The second half began as the first ended, a scrum against the head saw Stradling pick and offload to McLaughlan who despite running in, lost the ball forward in an attempted reach for the line. Windsor was relieved of his water boy duties, replacing Owens before Bridgwater turned a second successive scrum against the head, this time Stradling falling on the pig skin himself as the scrum was pushed beyond the try line. A heroic scrummaging performance was bought to an end as front rower A Tew and second rower A Blundell were replaced by Knight and Lewis respectively. Windsor made an immediate impact with an electric break down the wing and Bridgwater set up camp in the Imps 22. There they stayed until Tom Lewis broke the stalemate with a beautiful line off the inside of Hughes, scything open the defence and beating the covering defender to the line. Kerry added the extras. Imperial then attacked and a promising phase of rugby for the home side was brought to an end by ill-discipline. Bridgwater took it quick exiting their own half and it wasn’t long before McLaughlan broke a tackle to cross the line for a third time, scoring his second. Another missed conversion. Despite the imposing score line, Bridgwater continued to chase another score before full time, Another Caddick break opened up some space for Officer Drabble to join the ranks of the scorers, Stradling putting a black mark on his otherwise gold starred performance by attempting a drop goal to convert and missing. Imperial had the last word of the game, their powerful centre breaking down the wing before Windsor bustled him into touch short of the line. At 44-0, Bridgwater can take another clean sheet and look to their Castle Cary opponents next weekend.

Team: Drabble, Hughes, Owens, Kerry, Lang, Collings, Caddick; Tew, Nobili, Gibson, Blundell, Page-Symonds, McLaughlan, G Sluman (Capt), Stradling

Substitutes: (All Used) Knight, Lewis, Windsor

Tries: Hughes (2), McLaughlan (2), Collings, Stradling, Lewis, Drabble

Cons: Kerry (2)

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

Comments are closed.