Tribute South West One West

Ivybridge 31, Bridgwater & Albion 26

BRIDGWATER slipped to a narrow defeat at play-off rivals Ivybridge and one that probably ensures they will be playing South West 1 rugby again next season, writes Tony Pomeroy.

Albion needed a five-point victory at Ivybridge to leapfrog the Devon side into second place - but after a thrilling game of rugby between two very committed sides, it was the home side who gained five points, scoring four tries, whilst visitors, Bridgwater, had to be content with a losing bonus point.

The home side deserved their narrow win whilst Bridgwater with two tries from Rob Allen and Ollie Dunn relied on the boot of Chris Ashwin for the remaining sixteen points.

Chris Ashwin opened the scoring with a 34m penalty after seven minutes before doubling the lead shortly after. .

Midway through the half, Ivybridge scored their first try from driving maul, as second row Elliott Worrall was driven over in the corner.

Fly half Matt Grieveson converted with a superb kick from the touchline.

Minutes later, Bridgwater lost the ball and were then penalised - the penalty to the corner proved decisive as flanker Alex Hall scored wide out following a clever line-out move.

Grieveson converted with another excellent kick for a 14-6 lead.

From the kick off, Ashwin narrowed the gap with another penalty as Ivybridge were penalised for obstruction.

The final action of the half saw home scrum half put in a speculative box kick on the Bridgwater 22 and the visiting Scholes gathered cleanly to score unopposed, giving Grieveson an easy conversion and Ivybridge a 21-9 half-time lead.

Ashwin then kicked a simple penalty to reduce the home lead to 21-12, before Scholes touched down for his second try and Grieveson kept up his 100% goal-kicking record.

At 28-12 midway through the half, Ivybridge may have imagined the game was effectively over.

Bridgwater however, had other ideas and Allen powered home from 45m with Ashwin converting his try for 28-19.

Into the final minutes, visiting skipper, Ollie Dunn, picked up the loose ball and burst through the home defence to score under the posts and give Ashwin an easy conversion to make the score a nail-biting 28-26 and any result still possible.

In the frantic final four minutes, Ivybridge hammered at the Bridgwater line and were relieved to be awarded a penalty, kicked by Grieveson, just seconds before the final whistle to make the final score 31-26.

Next week, Bridgwater host Matson who have recorded good wins in their last two games as they fight to avoid being relegated with Cullompton and St. Austell - kick-off is 3pm.