Tribute South West One West

Bridgwater & Albion 45, Thornbury 33

BRIDGWATER & Albion wiped out their five-point deduction for fielding an unregistered player with a bonus point victory over Thornbury, on an afternoon that saw 11 tries scored, writes Tony Pomeroy.

Nick Francis grabbed a brace for Albion while there were also scores for Kerry, Hastie, Bryant, Page-Symonds and Buller.

Thornbury exerted early pressure but could not make it count.

Nick Spellissy then gathered a loose ball in midfield and released Joel Clark. He was tackled in the visitors 22. Bridgwater kept up the pressure and Nick Francis was stopped short.

However, Will Kerry followed up and gathered the ball to score an unconverted try in the corner.

Poor Bridgwater tackling then allowed full back Ed Sheldon to break through for the equalising unconverted try. With the home pack looking lively, they earned a penalty, missed by Stuart Heal.

The home defence was missing again when Dan Hussey broke clean through for a try converted by Matthews before Bridgwater hit back.

Rob Allen and Ollie Dunn combined well and the ball was then moved to the right for Francis to get an unconverted try.

With the final kick of the half, Stephens extended the Thornbury lead to 10-18 with a 48m penalty that went over via the cross bar.

Bridgwater exerted pressure and when replacement Doug Page-Symonds took a clean line-out catch, the pack drove 20m to the line for ace poacher, Matt Hastie to grab a try converted by Heal.

Thornbury then put together some great play and were rewarded with a penalty from Stephens.

Bridgwater then had their own spell of pressure and from a five metre scrum, Tayler Buller drove over for a bonus point try, converted by Heal to give Bridgwater a short-lived lead.

From the kick off, Matthews broke through some weak tackling for a good individual try converted by Stephens and regain the lead at 24-28.

The lead changed hands again when good forward pressure saw Page-Symonds get Bridgwater's fifth try again converted by Heal.

Bridgwater continued to pressurise the visitors and a lovely inside pass from Hastie created space for James Bryant to charge over under the posts giving Heal an easy conversion.

A loose pass inside the Bridgwater 22 was intercepted by Francis who sprinted 70m, was almost caught by Sheldon sprinting back, but scored a try converted by Heal.

The final try, Thornbury's bonus point try, came when Matthews again broke through for a fine individual try that remained unconverted.

Scorers Bridgwater & Albion Tries: Francis (2), Kerry, Hastie, Bryant, Page- Symonds, Buller.Cons: Heal (5)

Thornbury Tries: Sheldon, Matthews, Stephens (2) Cons: Matthews (2) Pens: Matthews (3)

Bridgwater Team: Jon Hill, Joel Clark (Sam Knights 42), Rob Allen, Will Kerry, Nick Francis, Stuart Heal, Sam Knights (Roger Drabble h/t), Lovejoy Chawatama (Joe Bussell h/t), Matt Hastie, James Bryant (Lovejoy Chawatama 73), Matt Northey (Doug Page-Symonds h/t), Dan Kemmish (Capt), Nick Spellissy, Ollie Dunn, Tayler Buller

Referee : Peter Lyes (East Midlands)