Thornbury 30, BARFC 7 (05/03/16)

AN Other | 05/03/2016

Report by Tony Pomeroy

After the debacle of the defeat at Chard, Bridgwater looked much more like their old selves for much of this hard-fought encounter. It was only in the final quarter of an hour that Thornbury made sure of the game.
Bridgwater brought Jervis Manupenu back at fly half with Chris Ashwin moving out to centre whist Tm Fournier-D’Albe started at scrum half. Nick Spellissy also returned at No 8. James McLauchlan was set to make his debut, in the back row, from the bench.
Bridgwater kicked off down the considerable slope and were penalised within 10 seconds. Within three minutes, Thornbury had been awarded three kicks and with the third, scrum half Tom Luke slotted a penalty from 30m.
Bridgwater showed some flair in reply and were very unlucky when, during a move near their own 22, a pass was intercepted by home wing Mike Gaston who ran over unopposed and give Luke an easy conversion.
The Bridgwater scrum looked much more a cohesive unit than in recent weeks and were proving the more dominant of the two packs.
After 18 minutes, Kyran Devitt was inches away from an interception try but only moments later, folowing a good scrummage, skipper Ollie Dunn broke through. The ball reached Chris Ashwin who broke through for a deserved try that he converted himself.
Straight from the kick off, Bridgwater were penalised and Luke increased the home lead to 13-7.
The rest of the half belonged to Bridgwater, but although they went close on a number of occasions, could not quite break through. Manupenu, during this time, put in a number of long kicks to touch, one of the best being a 50 yard kick following the award of the first penalty of the game to Bridgwater after 32 minutes.
The second half was barely 15 seconds old when Luke had another shot at goal but this time showed his fallibility by pulling it wide.
When Thornbury found touch deep in the Bridgwater 22 from yet another penalty, they put together a driving maul which involved at least twelve of the home players, resulting in a try for flanker Dan Kerr converted by Luke.
Bridgwater rang the changes and pressed again without changing the score. Mid way through the half, that man Luke was at it again. He broke through several attempted tackles and scored an unconverted try wide out on the right.
Bridgwater now began to tire and with only four minutes remaining, Thornbury gained their bonus-point win when replacement, Bob Adams scored an unconverted try in the corner.
Yes, Bridgwater will have been disappointed to return home pointless again, but they will be encouraged by the display for the first hour of a very tough game. The race for the play-off place will be between Thornbury and Newent with Bridgwater now playing for pride for the remainder of the season.
The next home match is on Friday March 11th when we play the re-arranged game at home to Clevedon with a 7-30 pm kick off.

Scorers

Thornbury
Tries: Gaston, Kerr, Luke, Adams
Cons: Luke (2)
Pens: Luke (2)

Bridgwater & Albion
Try: Ashwin
Con: Ashwin

Bridgwater Team:
Rob Gurnett, Kyran Devitt, Rob Allen, Chris Ashwin, Oscar Tregenna, Jervis Manupenu, Tom Fournier-D’Albe, Lewis Phillips, Gavin Knight, Joe Bussell, Dan Kemmish, Rob Thompson, Luca Ercolani, Ollie Dunn (Capt) , Nick Spellissy.
Replacements (all used): Adrian Tew, James McLauchlan, Scott Franklin.

Referee: Tim Brown (Liverpool Society)

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