Geoff Says
Although his side lost their local derby match against North Petherton on Friday evening, Geoff Sluman the director of rugby at Bridgwater and Albion was quick to praise the opposition and thank all of the supporters and match officials for their part in helping to create such an atmosphere.
Geoff said: “First off, I think local derby games are great. I think both clubs (Bridgwater and Albion and North Petherton) have got this right in arranging the fixtures on a Friday night. It facilitates a great atmosphere and I know that we would all like to thank the supporters and officials for helping to make it a success.
“My thoughts on the game are a very similar to those from the previous fixture when we lost at Newent RFC. We did not put in a complete performance and definitely “left some things” that we didn’t deploy.
“We played well enough for 70 minutes of the game but it felt like we had more gears to go through and didn’t do nearly well enough in the closing stages. I think with about five minutes to play before the final whistle on Friday we were 21-12 up. In the last period of the game we lacked the composure to deal with a couple of critical plays – perhaps we thought the game was won? Whereas the opposite was true for ‘Pethy’ they kept the desire and willingness to work hard and they got their reward. I have no hesitation in saying again “well done and congratulations” to Pethy for the win.”
Sluman went on: “Of course the result is a disappointment, no doubt about it, we wanted the win, but that is true of every game we play. We picked up a losing bonus point so we have kept a bit of momentum in collecting league points. After the weekends matches we remain in fourth place in the league, which is no bad thing.
“We are in the middle of a challenging little sequence of games at the moment having played Newent away, North Petherton at home and our next match is Okehampton away. That is three big games each of which is a very physical challenge but we do have a week off before the Okehampton game so we will be ready for it.
“Another advantage of the Friday nightarrangement was that we were able to watch our Second XV on Saturday afternoon. They played away against their North Petherton counterparts which was also a great game and the local derby means just as much to those teams. Our team ran out winners by 38 points to 10. I take great comfort from that.
“Albion now have a healthy Second XV who are providing real competition for places to the First XV. A lot of those guys are interchangeable with our firsts so we are building a squad of capable players and both of our teams are currently in fourth place in their respective leagues. That is a good position with better things still to come.
“We are not exactly rebuilding at the moment but we are developing and the outlook is positive and I am optimistic about the future.
“This coming weekend the First XV are without a fixture whilst the Second XV have an away fixture to Stothert and Pitt in Somerset One.
Sluman added: “There will be some rugby action at the club on Saturday though, as we will be showing the Six Nations Super Saturday games on the big screens, these games have been growing in popularity, is good fun and is open to all- so come on down and join in!”
Category: Previews / Reports -XV
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