Matson 29- BARFC -7
South West One (West)
Matson 29- BARFC -7
Bridgwater and Albion travelled up the M5 to Gloucester where they were greeted with the news that their pitch at Matson RFC was unplayable and that the game had been transferred to a very heavy and considerably sloping one nearby.
The Albion welcomed Garryn Basson back for his first match since injury early on and Roger Drabble, making his first appearance of the season.
The Albion won the toss and chose to play up the hill first which probably turned out to be the wrong call as the home side who were motivated by the threat of relegation adapted far better to the conditions
Matson came out of the traps all guns blazing at the start of the game and in the opening 12 minutes ran in three tries, two of which were converted to make the score 19-0.
This barrage of tries acted as a wake up call to the Somerset side and the rest of the half was evenly contested, and there was no addition to the score.
With the slope in their favour after the break Bridgwater came out strongly and following a period of sustained pressure in which their scrum dominated they were awarded a penalty try on 12 minutes.
Bridgwater then competed strongly for the rest of the game but were unable to exploit the pitch as their efforts on the sloping pitch began to tell.
In the closing minutes Matson ran in two more unconverted tries to make it 29-7 at the final whistle.
Bridgwater and Albion- Matt Ranson, Sam Adcock, Craig Blyde, Ethan Trebble- Westlake, Arron Kelly, Bryan Webb, Ollie Dunn, Brad Talbot, Tom Fournier, Stuart Heal, Garryn Basson, Jay Owens, Rob Gurnett, Kyran Devitt, and Roger Drabble.
Replacements all used- Jerry Phillips, George Sluman and Ollie Phillips.
Afterwards Director of Rugby Geoff Sluman said: “Tactically we did the right things, but we were very disappointed to lose in the way that we did.
“Maston looked like a team who were playing as though their lives depended on it whereas we took a little while to get going at the start.
“Our scrummaging was dominant and worked pretty well throughout, in fact our try was awarded as a result of the pressure we created.
“The effort that everybody put in during the game was excellent and everybody worked really hard for the good of the team, because it was a pretty un-glamorous match on a heavy pitch.
“At the end of it all we worked hard but it wasn’t our day. On a difficult pitch we didn’t adapt to it as well as Matson did.”
Category: Previews / Reports -XV
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