Newent 23 – Bridgwater and Albion 20
South West One (West)
Newent 23- Bridgwater and Albion -20
Bridgwater and Albion produced their best performance to date on the sloping pitch at Newent, but in the end it was the home side who ran out the winners by a narrow margin.
The Somerset side, who welcomed back Ollie Dunn from injury, kicked off down the slope, but it was Newent that started the stronger and had the better of the opening exchanges.
However on eight minutes a Stuart Heal penalty put the visitors to within seven metres of the home line a situation that eventually resulted in Number 8 Brad Talbot forcing his way over the line.
Within three minutes Newent hit back when full back Brooks kicked a penalty.
On 15 minutes the Albion extended their lead following some good work by Luke Plummer who passed onto Will Monro to score a fine individual try, which Heal converted.
A skirmish involving players from both sides on the half hour mark resulted in Talbot and a Newent player being shown the yellow card.
Aaron Kelly went close for the visitors but at half time the score was 12-3 to Bridgwater.
Within three minutes of the re-start Heal kicked a penalty for the visitors, but it wasn’t long before Newent started to make their home advantage pay when winger Martin scored an unconverted try.
Bridgwater were reduced to 14 men for the second time in the match when Sam Adcock was yellow carded and during his absence Newent drove towards the line before Martin went over for his second try.
Soon after the hosts scored another try to take the lead for the first time, this time when Brooks took advantage of an errant kick to make it 18-15.
With five minutes to go Upton scored an unconverted try for Newent, which brought a final flourish from Bridgwater that resulted in Tom Fournier scoring a try to make it 23-20 at the end. So near yet so far!
Bridgwater tries- Talbot, Monro, and Fournier. Conversion- Heal, Penalty –Heal .
Bridgwater and Albion- Will Monro, Kieran Devitt, Nik Bradley, Luke Plummer, Joe Clarke, Stuart Heal, Tom Fournier, Brad Talbot, George Sluman, Ollie Dunn, Arron Kelly, Ethan Trebble-Westlake, Craig Blyde, Sam Adcock, and Matt Ranson.
Replacements- all used- Lewis Phillips, Dan Kemmish and Lewis Plece.
Category: Previews / Reports -XV
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
