Clevedon 27- Bridgwater and Albion 35.
South West One (West)
Clevedon 27- Bridgwater and Albion 35.
After the frustrations of last week Bridgwater & Albion got the second half of their season of to a winning start when they beat Clevedon away.
Despite some concerns about the pitch the went ahead Bridgwater started the first half playing into a strongish wind and the opening exchanges were tightly contested.
After 11 minutes the visitors were awarded a penalty around the half way line which fly half Stu Heal kicked to the corner. The resulting lineout was flawlessly executed by the Bridgwater forwards who set up a driving maul. All eight worked hard to get a good drive with up and coming prop Matt Ranson controlling the ball at the tail to then split off to score the opening try for Albion. Heal duly converted a difficult kick made challenging not necessarily by the distance but the wind.
Clevedon were never going to let Bridgwater have matters their own way during what is considered as a local derby and bounced back immediately. Following some slick handling and good unloads in the tackles the hosts scored a try under the posts that was converted making the score 7-7 after 15 minutes.
On the half hour mark after some strong play Albion were awarded a penalty that Heal slotted over to take the score 7-10, from which point they never lost the lead.
On 36 mins from just inside the Albion half Brad Talbot made a break which he unloaded to the returning to first team action Rob Gurnett who duly ran a very strong line and stepped inside two defenders to score a try under the posts. Heal again converting.
Bridgwater kept applying pressure from the restart and were awarded a penalty just inside the Clevedon half. The referee awarded Bridgwater a 10metre advantage for some back chat to him by Clevedon. This was repeated for a second and third time resulting in the the Clevedon hooker being shown a yellow card and Heal duly kicking the penalty over.
If Albion thought play was swinging their way they were given a sharp reminder by the Clevedon team who rallied from a line out in the Bridgwater 22 to set up a driving maul that was difficult to stop and duly scored a try that was converted to make the half time score Clevedon 14 – 20 Bridgwater.
Early in the second half Heal kicked another penalty and on 10 minutes into the second half Bridgwater scored what is likely to be a contender for their try of the season so far.
The move started from deep inside the Bridgwater half with captain and open-side flanker Ollie Dunn having a trade mark carry and passing to Number Eight Talbot who in turn made a very strong run from still inside the Bridgwater half but he beat several defenders eventually passing to blindside flanker Ethan Trebble-Westlke making that the third member of the back row to surge forward in the move.
The ball was passed to Gurnett who still had defenders to beat but he did this with ease out wide but behind the try line then ran under the posts. Heal converted.
With five minutes left to play Clevedon were awarded a penalty try for Bridgwater collapsing bring the final score to Clevedon 27 – 35 Bridgwater.
Bridgwater & Albion : Matthew Ranson, Sam Adcock, Craig Blyde, RobThompson, Arron Kelly, Ethan Trebble-Westlake, Ollie Dunn (Capt), Brad Talbot, Tom Fournier, Stuart Heal, Kyran Devitt, Luke Plummer, Rob Gurnett, Lewis Plece and Will Monro.
Replacements (all used) Lewis Phillips, George Sluman and Jay Owens.
Category: Previews / Reports -XV
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