RUGBY: Stuart Heal plays starring role as Bridgwater & Albion earn comeback win over Newent

THIS was a bruising encounter between two sides with very similar playing records, but at the end of the day it was Bridgwater who ran out the winners, writes Richard Walsh.

The flags flew at half mast and before the match began the players from both teams observed a minute's silence in memory of three Bridgwater & Albion stalwarts who had passed away recently – Jack Smith, Roy Vearncombe and Gerald Lomax.

When play got underway Newent dominated proceedings from the off and opened the scoring after six minutes when Will Mansfield went over in the right-hand corner for an unconverted try.

The visitors continued to dominate and should have extended their lead, but failed to land a straightforward penalty.

The home side were then reduced to 14 men when Joe Bussell was shown the yellow card for a high tackle, after which Newent continued to pin the hosts in their own half.

The Gloucestershire side eventually extended their lead after 16 minutes when Tom Webb slotted a long-distance penalty.

Bridgwater eventually broke out of their own half and on 27 minutes they got on the board when the ever-reliable boot of Stuart Heal kicked a penalty in front of the posts, after which there was no further score before the interval, Newent going in 8-3 up.

BARGE: Garryn Basson charges through. Pic: Ben Pomeroy

The home side seemed to have much more urgency about them when they re-appeared after the break and after just two minutes Heal kicked another straightforward penalty.

Bridgwater then took the lead for the first time in the match when Heal slotted home his third penalty.

Newent were reduced to 14 men when Jamie Meek was yellow carded, and nine minutes later found their numbers further depleted when Russel Upton followed him to the sin bin.

From the ensuing penalty Bridgwater added to their lead, Heal taking the three points from just left of the posts.

Newent saw yet another player – Toby Freeman – carded, as Heal made it 15-8 when he kicked his fifth penalty of the game.

There was no keeping Heal out of the game, and three minutes later he fielded a ball deep in his own half before setting off on a run that resulted eventually in Oscar Tregenna crashing over for a well-deserved try in the right-hand corner.

In the dying minutes Bridgwater replacement John Hill was yellow carded for obstruction, and on the stroke of full time Brett Gardener burst through to score a try for Newent that Webb converted to make the final score 20-15 to the hosts.

Bridgwater and Albion: Lewis Phillips, Shaun Mahoney, Joe Bussell, Ethan Trebble-Westlake, Dan Kemmish, Taylor Buller, Ollie Dunn (capt), Micky Norman, Tom Fournier, Stuart Heal, Oscar Tregenna, James Collins, Luke Plummer, Garryn Basson, Roger Drabble.
Replacements (all used): Matt Ransom, George Sluman, John Hill.

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REFLECTING on the win over Newent, Albion head coach Simon Morrell said: “It was a good result for us, although we made a right dog’s dinner of the first 20 minutes of the game when we looked like we were the away team.

“We threw away points because we made unforced errors and didn’t respect the game line and the collisions in particular, we were passive and that left us with a bit of a mountain to climb.

Morrell went on: “Newent are technically a top three side with the quality they had in their side and in the past we have folded against teams who put us under that kind of physical pressure.

“However on Saturday I was very pleased because we stuck to our guns, we didn’t do anything flash – in fact in the second half we kicked and fielded for position a lot more.

“We allowed the opportunities to present themselves rather than trying to force them.

"It was a really mature execution in the second half and it was textbook of what we are trying to achieve.”

HELD: Ethan Trebble-Westlake caught just short of the try line. Pic: Ben Pomeroy

Morrell picked out some aspects of the game that he was especially pleased about, saying: “It was good to have Luke Plummer back in the side and the link-up he had with Stuart Heal particularly in our own half was impressive.

“The collective work rate and the mindset we showed was really healthy and whereas sometimes in the past we would have thrown in the towel there was no sign of that against Newent.

“This shows that we are moving very much in the right direction.

"What we are doing is moving the boundaries in all areas of the park and bit by bit we are getting better and better and this result was a pay off for that.”

The Albion boss also paid tribute to the large attendance at College Way on Saturday.

“Once again it was great to see another large crowd coming along to watch us and hopefully they will keep on turning up, because we are only going to get better and better as the season unfolds.”