South West 1W
Kingsbridge 17, Chard 1st XV 10

CHARD travelled to Kingsbridge with an amount of confidence to come away with a good result... but it was not to be.

In a game lacking much subtlety, both sides looked to use the considerable sideways slope of the pitch and kicked for territory whenever possible.

After a frantic first 10 minutes with both sides looking for bragging rights in the contact area, the tone of the game was set at the first scrum.

Chard had a clear upper hand in the set scrum with the front row of Biss, Robinson and Mainwaring clearly in control but Kingsbridge were constantly allowed to wheel the scrum making it difficult for scrum-half Johnson to get the ball cleanly away to his backs, negating any advantage Chard should have gained from their superiority.

Chard did take the lead midway through the first half when, after a sustained attack, captain Ryan Helliar was driven over the line following good forward play.

The try was converted by John Humphries to give Chard a 7-0 lead.

At this point, Chard looked to be well in control with fly-half Naani gaining superb ground with tactical kicking.

Chard were also trying to play their expansive game but the backs were finding it difficult to make any clean line breaks, it looked as if the score would remain the same to half-time.

A clearance kick by Kingsbridge was not cleanly collected and the chasing players were able to put pressure on the Chard back line.

Out of nowhere, the ball broke free and was hacked towards the Chard line.

The race to touchdown was won by the Kingsbridge player under the posts, the try was duly converted and the game went to half time level at 7-7.

In the second half, Kingsbridge upped their game and gave very little opportunity for Chard to build attacks.

Also, Chard became increasingly confused by refereeing decisions which stopped them gaining any momentum.

As Kingsbridge attacked, Chard were finding it difficult to clear their lines properly and the scrums became a lottery as Chard continued to dominate but were not allowed to gain any advantage.

Eventually, after a series of attacks close to the Chard line, the home side were able to spin the ball wide and found an overlap to score their second try and take the lead; this was converted to make the score 14-7.

The final quarter saw the game lose any shape and a penalty to Kingsbridge allowed the home side to extend their lead.

Chard did regain some territory and a rare attack saw them rewarded with a penalty, scored by Humphries to make the final score 17-10.

So a game Chard hoped to win ultimately furnished only a single losing bonus point.

They are without a game on Saturday.