Tribute South West 1 West

Bridgwater & Albion 10, Chard 22

BRIDGWATER & Albion slumped to a disappointing 22-10 defeat at the hands of Chard on Saturday, as the South Somerset side completed a league double of the hosts.

Joe Bussell and Nick Spellissy both crossed for Bridgwater, but they were to be mear consolation tries as Chard left College Way with the points.

Chard made a great start and retained all the possession from the kick off.

The first of their four tries came after just three minutes when winger Jack Pennington crossed in the corner - Chris Doak's kick for the extras was good giving Chard an early seven point lead.

Chard were denied a good opportunity a few minutes later when a Bridgwater knock-on on their own try line was missed by the Referee.

The visitors, however, continued to put great pressure on the Bridgwater side and were finally rewarded on 24 minutes when Bryan Harrison went over in identical fashion to Pennington's opener.

Albion began to gain some possession in the latter stages of the first half, but handling and kicking errors abounded and they could make no progress with the ball.

Their first real attempt at points came in the 33rd minute with a penalty kick, but Heal's effort was wide of the mark.

Some real end-to-end rugby was now being played, but it was Chard who got the next score just before half-time when Lee Massey scored for the visitors.

From the restart, Bridgwater seemed more confident and certainly had the upper hand in the first 20 minutes.

Albion went close to opening their account when a driving maul bundled its way over the line, but the referee adjudged it to be held up.

But not to be denied, Joe Bussell soon powered over from close range to register the host's first five-pointer of the afternoon.

There followed a stalemate for the next 20 minutes as both sides defended well and neither side could make much progress.

This was finally broken by Chard's Doak crossing the line for the visitor's fourth try of the match and their bonus point.

Just before the final whistle, Nick Spellissy crashed over the line for a consolation score, but the earlier damage had been done and Chard held out for the five-point win.

Next week (March 8) Bridgwater & Albion travel to bottom-side Sidmouth.

ScorersBridgwaterTries: Bussell, Spellissy ChardTries: Pennington, Harrison, Massey, DoakConv: Doak Bridgwater Team: Nick Francis, Dan Lang, Rob Allen, James Brakes, Garryn Basson, Stuart Heal, Sam Knights, James Bryant, Matt Hastie, Joe Bussell, Ali Blundell, Dan Kemmish, Nick Spellissy, Ollie Dunn, Taylor BullerReplacements: Lovejoy Chawatama, Joe Stradling, Roger Drabble (All Used) Referee: Gary Malpass (East Midlands)