banner ad

Old Sulians 18, BARFC 2nds 20 (27/09/14)

| 28/09/2014 | Reply

Bridgwater took a trip up the M5 to visit Old Sulians and were looking for their fourth straight win in a row.

Bridgwater headed into the game with a slightly altered side, fly half Jay Owens was called upon to perform 1st team duties and John Hill made a welcome return to the second team at full back, Bridgwater also welcomed Jordan Buller to the squad who was making his first second team appearance for the club standing at hooker pushing captain Josh Sturdy to back row.

Bridgwater kicked the game off with a beauty of a kick from John Hill, the high ball allowed Dougy Page-Symonds to cover some serious yardage and introduce his opposite man to the game with a nice hit, however the referee saw it as a dangerous tackle and awarded a penalty to Sulians.

Despite this, Bridgwater started the 1st half the strongest, good kicking from John Hill saw Bridgwater knocking at Old Sulians doorstep. Poor hands from Old Sulians resulted in Bridgwater packing down on their five metre line. Number 8 Ollie Steward broke from the back of the scrum repeatedly and was held up over the line by some great defence from home side. With the scrum reset, Bridgy pushed once more for the line, Ollie broke away and was finally awarded with the try he deserved. The kick was missed making the score 0-5 to Bridgwater.

Sulians restarted the game with intent, after making a quick turn over from the kick off they were making yardage towards the Bridgy try line. The Bridgy boys rode the storm well, with the likes of Garryn Basson and Tom Lewis putting repeated hits in to drive Sulians away from the Albion try line. With a well earned turn over ball for Bridgwater, Luke Payne kicked long but was unable to find touch, Sulians countered well and with some slick hands they managed to find their way across Albions try line followed by a successful conversion. This made the score 7-5.

Bridgwater were lucky through the remainder of the second half not to concede again, poor discipline around the ruck area and back chat towards the referee saw Bridgwater pinned in their own half for long periods and attacks were rare, however Bridgwater’s defence held strong and the end of the 1st half was finally called.

With some words exchanged between coach and players in the rest period, Bridgwater again opened the second half strongly. The ball was gathered well by Page-Symonds who was tackled immediately and a ruck was formed, great vision from Hill saw him with space up the blind side and with quick distribution from Matt Ranson, Hill was away up the wing with Mitch Windsor in support. The two communicated well, Hill drew in the last defender before delivering the deciding pass to Windsor who had 20m still to go with the Sulians winger in pursuit. Windsor won the foot race making the score 7-10 to Bridgwater. Try un-converted.

Poor discipline from Bridgwater soon saw Sulians back in the game, Bridgy were defending well in their own half but a rash decision from the referee awarded Sulians with a penalty in front of the Albion posts. The kick was successful and the score was now 10-10 with plenty of time left.

Bridgwater then made another breakthrough; a well controlled driving maul on the half way line gave Matt Ranson the opportunity to make a break around the fringe and again Windsor was in support. Ranson delivered the final pass allowing Windosr to score his second of the day under the posts and John Hill converted the extras making the score 10-17 to Bridgwater. This didn’t sit well with Sulians and with Bridgwaters Basson making a visit to the sin bin Sulians found numbers out wide and were able to cross and score their second try of the afternoon but missed the extras making the score 15-17 to Bridgwater.

With a moment of madness and some rare missed tackles from the Bridgy boys Old Sulians again found themselves deep in the Albion half. Bridgwater rallied behind themselves, putting in tackle after tackle with Ryan Barnett coming in off his wing to put an end to a passage of play that would have resulted in a certain try for the home side. However it was all in vain as Bridgwater’s discipline let them down once again and a penalty was awarded to Sulians just off centre of the posts. The kick was good making the score 18-17 to Old Sulians.

With less than 5 minutes to go till the final whistle, Sturdy rallied the squad and from the kick off pinned Sulians back in their 22. With some great defence Bridgwater didn’t give them a chance to kick to clear their lines and with the clock ticking, time was beginning to run out for Albion. An opportunity came however in the form of a Sulians player entering a ruck from the side, the referee awarded a penalty to Bridgy. John Hill stepped up with confidence and slotted the kick making the score 18-20 to Bridgwater.

There was still time for Sulians to attack after the restart but Bridgwater coped well with the kick off and Hill kicked long into the Sulians half and the final whistle was blown. The final score was 18-20 to Bridgwater & Albion.

This win makes it four straight victories for Bridgwater’s 2nd team and the young squad will need to carry what they have learnt into next weeks game where they take on tough opponents Castle Cary at home. Bridgy will need to drastically improve on their discipline going into the game as they were lucky it didn’t cost them the game this weekend.

Bridgwater Team: 1(Alan Trunks) 2(Jordan Buller) 3(Adrian Tew) 4(Tom Lewis) 5(Dougy Page-Symonds) 6(Josh Sturdy) 7(Mitch Windsor) 8(Ollie Steward) 9(Matt Ranson) 10(Luke Payne) 11(Ryan Barnett) 12(Garryn Basson) 13(Dan Lang) 14(James Kerry) 15(John Hill) Reps(Dan Page, Gavin Knight and Simon Ranson)

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

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.