Geoff Says
Geoff Sluman the director of rugby at Bridgwater and Albion reflected on the teams defeat at Newent on Saturday which ended his sides eight match winning run.
Sluman said: “We have never won away at Newent and frustratingly that trend continues. I think the score does flatter Newent a little. Their final try in injury time deprived us of a losing bonus point. However, we did score a four try bonus point so we take something from the game.
He went on: “Encouragingly, the result could have gone either way. We were ahead for the majority of the game. It was a fairly even game with the result decided on a couple key incidents that Newent got right. There were some things we could not control.
“However, we have to take a bit of a look at ourselves as there were a couple of things we could have controlled better but failed to do so sufficiently to influence the result. That is simply down to us, so the positive from that, is the fact that there are things we can do to improve.
“There are some really good learning points for us collectively. it was just a few situations that we didn’t control well enough. The effort, work rate and commitment from all 18 players was fantastic and if you have that then there is not a lot wrong.
“To put things into perspective Newent have beaten both Okehampton and Launceston at Newent this season and they are the top two teams in the league so it is recognised as a difficult place to get an away win.”
Looking ahead to the coming weekend Sluman said: “This week we focus on the local derby against North Petherton on Friday night. Kick off is at 19:30 at College Way.
“Both teams have been enjoying good form recently but league form tends to go out of the window during local derby games. We will have our regular training sessions during the week.
“Selection decisions will be difficult for us because we have got many players who are putting pressure on us to select them following good performances. That includes guys who missed out on first team selection this week and who played for our Second XV who also had another encouraging result on Saturday by beating Keynsham IIs 71-12. Our Seconds play Petherton Seconds on Saturday so please come and support the teams if you can.”
Category: Previews / Reports -XV
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