North Petherton 13, Bridgwater & Albion 26 (05/09/15)
Report by Tony Pomeroy
For this the opening match of the season, Bridgwater gave starting debuts to scrum half, eighteen year old Tom Fournier d’Albe and flanker Ethan Trebble -Westlake. There were also two young Italian debutants on the bench, flanker Luca Ercolani who was celebrating his nineteenth birthday, and hooker, Gabriele Nobili who is still eighteen.
With three more of last year’s regular backs also missing, Chris Ashwin moved to fly half to replace the injured Jervis Manupenu with Garryn Basson and James Brakes replacing the departed Stuart Heal and Arg Sariarelis.
Bridgwater kicked off playing down the slope but into a stiff breeze. The game, as befitted an old-fashioned local derby with bragging rights at stake, was not an open spectacle. The tackling on both sides was very solid and neither side could manage to create much space.
Bridgwater opened the scoring in the first minute. Bridgwater drove forward from a lineout and when the home side were adjudged offside in midfield, Chris Ashwin made no mistake with a simple 20m penalty.
Pethy hit back almost immediately when Bridgwater failed to roll away in the tackle and Harry Roberts kicked a very simple penalty.
Bridgwater conceded more ground to the home side and after a period of pressure, Jon Gallagher crashed over for the opening try, converted by Roberts to give the home side a 10-3 lead after only eight minutes.
The next quarter of an hour saw play move from end to end as both teams tried in vain to get on the scoreboard.
Bridgwater pressure eventually told as Rob Thompson crashed over when the forwards drove forward from a line-out near the home line. Ashwin’s conversion was wide.
From the kick off, visiting skipper, Ollie Dunn caught the ball and drove 40m into the home half. Referee, Nick Heath, then spotted home hooker Sam Williams’ illegal use of the boot and he became the first yellow card of the season.
In his absence, Bridgwater exerted much pressure and Rob Allen and Tom Fournier d’Albe were both tackled short of the line. Bridgwater then moved the ball quickly to the left where they created an overlap and gave James Brakes the opportunity to score an unconverted try in the corner and take the lead 10-13.
In the minutes before the break, Roberts missed two penalties – one a routine one from 20m – for the home side and Ashwin missed one for the visitors.
The home side had the better of the exchanges in the early minutes of the second period. Bridgwater brought on Luca Ercolani for Ethan Trebble-Westlake and Ali Blundell for Rob Thompson. The flanker was not slow to make his presence felt but conceded a series of penalties before the referee showed him a yellow card after only eight minutes on the pitch.
Bridgwater continued to concede penalties and eventually Roberts kicked a simple goal from 10m to equalise the scores.
North Petherton continued to press and it took a relieving penalty to clear the Bridgwater lines. Another penalty, quickly taken by Dunn, saw the ball into touch in the home 22. Yet another penalty at the lineout saw Ashwin regain the lead for Bridgwater with a 22m angled kick.
Ashwin and Roberts then each had chances to score but the chances were spurned.
North Petherton were then penalised just inside their own half. Twice they disputed the decision and were marched back 10m each time. This brought Ashwin into kicking range and he rubbed salt into their wounds with an angled 22m penalty extending the visitors lead to 13-19.
Gabrieli Nobili replaced Knight at hooker and the visitors were immediately penalised at a scrum. North Petherton exerted pressure and it took a break-out by Ercolani to relieve the siege. His break was carried on by James Martin and the ball eventually reached Brakes who was tackled short.
North Petherton were penalised at the resulting scrum and the visitors opted to re-scrum. That was then lost against the head and this resulted in a North Petherton scrum on their own 5m line.
Bridgwater employed a very powerful eight man drive , totally disrupting the home pack and winning the ball. When a home player attempted to kick the ball out of the back of the scrum to prevent a push-over try, the referee had no hesitation in awarding Bridgwater a penalty try, converted by Ashwin to give them an unassailable lead at 13-26.
In the final two minutes, the home side tried desperately to narrow the gap but the visitors held out to record a deserved win.
Bridgwater, winning by three tries to one, will have been pleased with the result. North Petherton are a very tough side to beat and will surely be a force to reckon with later in the season. In this game, Bridgwater listened to and acted upon the referee’s instructions better than the home side in a game with about 35 penalties.
Tackling was generally secure and both sides gave and received some big hits. Handling was secure but the defences were generally on top as space was closed down very quickly. Lineouts were solid, generally going with the throw, but both sides won scrums against the head.
Bridgwater’s debutants all did well and showed they could cope with the pressure of an intense local derby. Referee, Nick Heath, used all his experience to keep firm control of a game that could easily have got out of hand.
Next week, Bridgwater entertain Chard, relegated last season, who started their campaign with a narrow 31-28 victory at home to Drybrook. Kick off will be at 3-00pm.
Scorers:
North Petherton
Try : Gallagher
Con: Roberts
Pens: Roberts (2)
Bridgwater & Albion
Tries : Thompson, Brakes, Penalty Try
Con : Ashwin
Pens: Ashwin (3)
Bridgwater Team:
James Martin, Oscar Tregenna, Rob Allen, Garryn Basson, James Brakes, Chris Ashwin, Tom Fournier d’Albe, James Bryant, Gavin Knight, Joe Bussell, Rob Thompson, Dan Kemmish, Ethan Trebble-Westlake, Ollie Dunn (Capt), Taylor Buller.
Replacements all used : Gabriele Nobili, Ali Blundell, Luca Ercolani
Referee : Nick Heath (Somerset Society)
Category: 1st XV News, Previews / Reports -XV
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