Tribute South West 1W

Clevedon 15, Bridgwater & Albion 28

BRIDGWATER secured another bonus-point victory with a triumph at local rivals Clevedon, despite a 20-minute lapse in the second half, writes Tony Pomeroy.

Tries from Jervis Manupenu, Garryn Basson, Roger Drabble and Nick Spellissy sealed a five-point haul for Albion, while Stuart Heal kicked four conversions.

The opening exchanges were very tight as neither side seemed prepared to run the ball.

When Clevedon did move the ball from a scrum in midfield, an excellent flowing move saw right wing Oscar James cross for the opening try in the corner.

A superb conversion across the stiff breeze from Mike Taylor made the score 7-0 after only four minutes.

Following a period of Bridgwater pressure, the visitors were rewarded for scorning a very kickable penalty.

They kicked to touch, patiently recycled the line-out ball and eventually Jervis Manupenu spotted a gap and ghosted over under the posts, giving Stu Heal an easy conversion.

Bridgwater began to dominate the game and Manupenu was again involved when they took a lead they would not relinquish.

With Bridgwater recycling the ball well, the fly-half released Garryn Basson who crashed over under the posts giving Heal another easy conversion.

Just before half time, Taylor reduced Bridgwater’s lead with a 39-metre penalty to make the half-time score 10-14.

Bridgwater exerted pressure straight from the kick-off after the interval and, following a series of rucks only metres from the home line, Roger Drabble slipped over under the posts for a typical scrum-half try. Heal again converted.

Clevedon must have sensed this could be something of a turning point and started to exert pressure of their own. Much of their good work came when veteran Tom Thie moved to fly half.

One of his 50-metre touch-finders put Bridgwater on the back foot, before a good Clevedon move failed when James dropped a possible scoring pass with the line seemingly open before him.

A few minutes later, Clevedon gained their reward – a loose chip ahead by Bridgwater was gathered by Taylor who carved through the visitors’ defence before handing on to Thie who scored an unconverted try in the corner.

Bridgwater began to exert pressure of their own and, following a line-out on the Clevedon 10 metre line, put together a good handling move that resulted in a bonus point try for Nick Spellissy. Heal converted with a good kick.

The game ended with the home side again on the attack but Bridgwater held out to record their second away victory of the season.

Albion: James Martin, James Brakes, Garryn Basson (rep Alex Newman 74), Stuart Heal, Oscar Tregenna, Jervis Manupenu, Roger Drabble, James Bryant, Matt Hastie, Joe Bussell, Ali Blundell, Dan Kemmish, Tayler Buller, Ollie Dunn (capt), Nick Spellissy. Reps not used: Adrian Tew, George Sluman.

l Albion are without a game on Saturday.