Newent 27, BARFC 0

Ben Pomeroy | 13/02/2016

Match Report by Tony Pomeroy

Bridgwater and Albion hopes of a play-off place sank into the mud at Newent. The Gloucester side – who looked to be a solid unit – were much more streetwise than the Somerset outfit and deserved their bonus point victory.

Bridgwater’s backs had a couple of positional changes with Chris Ashwin back to inside centre and Rob Gurnett moved to full back. Lewis Phillips and Gavin Knight replaced James Bryant and Tom Hillman in the front row with Gabrialli Nobili coming to the bench to join Doug Page-Symonds and Scott Franklin. With Taylor Buller off skiing, Rob Thompson returned to the second row.

In scrum half, James Dean, the home side had the man of the match as not only did he score three tries, he was the controlling influence in the game. He even took over as skipper when Newent lost their captain and centre, Ross Webb, to a leg injury early in the game.

Bridgwater had the better of the opening exchanges but, despite exerting pressure on the home line, failed to take any of the chances on offer. Newent gradually began to exert their influence on the game and take the play to the visitors. They could have opened the scoring after 15 mins but replacement Joe Goatley was wide with a penalty from 40m.The opening score for Newent was a chapter of accidents. At a line out on the Bridgwater 22, the referee allowed the very crooked throw to continue. Newent got to the Bridgwater line and were awarded a scrum. Bridgwater stole the scrum but knocked on and from the second scrum, Dean broke blind for his first try. Goatley could not convert.

The next quarter of an hour was fairly even, as play moved from end to end with neither side looking capable of changing the score. Bridgwater twice scorned kickable penalties in their quest for tries.
With the stop watch registering 42 minutes, the referee somehow allowed play to continue even further and from another scrum 5m from the Bridgwater line flanker George Phelps crashed over for another unconverted try.

Bridgwater attacked early in the second half but a lost ball on the Newent line cost the an immediate 65m as the home side broke away. From a maul following a line-out, on Bridgwater’s 10m line, No 8 Dan Fletcher broke clear and handed on to Dean who scored his second try, which, like the previous two remained unconverted.

Bridgwater’s Nick Spellissy then saw yellow for foul play. Newent should have scored again, but knocked on in the act of scoring. They achieved their bonus point after 26 minutes when, from a five metre scrum, Dean got his hat trick – again unconverted. The final try came when wing Brett Gardner caught a clever cross-field chip to leave Tom Webb a relatively easy conversion making the final score 27-0.

Bridgwater allowed themselves to be muscled out of this match. The score was not really an accurate reflection of the game. Newent were much more streetwise than Bridgwater as they adapted much better to the referee’s lack of control at the tackle area and although Bridgwater won the penalty count easily, Newent’s players and coaches were constantly ‘in the ear’ of the referee. Also, Newent took most of their chances whereas Bridgwater did not.

Bridgwater’s pack struggled a little in scrummages but lineouts were generally good. The back row tried hard with Luca Ercolani in the thick of much of the action. As ever, Rob Allen ran hard at the defence but our speedy wingers were not given much chance to show their pace – even when speedster Kyran Devitt was being marked by a hooker playing out of position.

Realistically, this second defeat in a row will make it very difficult to overtake Newent and Thornbury in the chase to get to the playoffs in April but the players will surely continue to give of their best, starting with the home fixture against Wells on Feb 20th, with a 2-30 pm kick off.

Scorers:
Newent
Tries: Dean (3), Phelps, Gardner
Con: T. Webb

Bridgwater Team
Rob Gurnett, Kyran Devitt, Rob Allen, Chris Ashwin, Oscar Tregenna, Jervis Manupenu, Tom Fournier-D’Albe (rep Scott Franklin 37-40, 62), Lewis Phillips, Gavin Knight (rep Gabrieli Nobili 46), Joe Bussell, Dan Kemmish, Rob Thompson (rep Doug Page-Symonds 62), Luca Ercolani, Ollie Dunn (Capt), Nick Spellissy.

Referee : Adam Carpenter (Staffordshire Society)

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