BARFC 19, Clevedon 24 (25/03/17)
Match Report by Richard Walsh
This was a bruising encounter from start to finish in which the home side never stopped fighting but in the end it was play off chasing Clevedon who ran out the winners.
Bridgwater opened the scoring after five minutes when skipper Ollie Dunn, who notched up his 150th first team appearance recently, picked up the ball after a scrum close to the visitors line, shook off a defender and crashed over for a try which Stuart Heal converted.
Clevedon levelled things up on the quarter of an hour when Dean Ashfield touched down to the right of the posts to score a try which Kieran Hill converted.
Almost from the re-start Hill put Clevedon ahead when he slotted home a long range penalty awarded for failing to release the ball. The Clevedon kicker put his side further in front when he kicked another penalty to make the score 13-7.
Kieran Devitt made a good run from deep in the Bridgwater half before being tackled just short of the Clevedon line as a result of which the visitors were reduced to 14 men and the hosts were awarded a penalty. They kicked to touch in the corner but were unable to capitalize on the chance they had created.
Just on the stroke of half time Clevedon were awarded a penalty just inside the Bridgwater half which Hill kicked to make the score 16-7 at the interval.
The home side started strongly after the break and for the first 20 minutes were in the ascendancy but the Clevedon defence held firm and try as they may Bridgwater could find no way through.
In the end it was Clevedon who scored next when Cameron Maslen broke from defence and covered more than half the pitch to score a try in the left hand corner to make the score 21-7.
At this stage of the game Clevedon might have thought that they had the game sewn up, but Bridgwater had other ideas and kept on mounting a challenge.
On 35 minutes the Bridgwater persistence was rewarded when Oscar Tregenna ran down the left wing to score a try that brought the home crowd to life.
Two minutes later Roger Drabble produced a dazzling run before scoring a try for Bridgwater which heal converted to make it 21-19.
Suddenly the game was wide open and both sides gave it their all, but with the minutes ticking away Clevedon were awarded a penalty mid-way out in front of the posts which the reliable Hill kicked to make it 24-19 at the final whistle.
Scorers
Bridgwater:
Tries: Ollie Dunn, Oscar Tregenna and Roger Drabble.
Coversions: for Stuart Heal(2)
Clevedon:
Tries: Dean Ashfield and Cameron Maslen
Conversions: Kieran Hill
Penalties: Kieran Hill (4)
Bridgwater and Albion: Matt Ranson, Shaun Mahoney, Lewis Phillips, Dan Kemmish, Ethan Trebble-Westlake, Joe Stradling, George Sluman, Ollie Dunn (capt), Tom Fourier D’Able, Stuart Heal, Oscar Tregenna, Luke Plummer, Kieran Devitt, Roger Drabble, Sam Britton
Replacements- Dave Norman and Jordan Buller (both used) Taylor Buller not used
Category: 1st XV News, Previews / Reports -XV
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