Tribute South West 1 West

Bridgwater 38, Wells 15

BRIDGWATER bounced back from last week’s defeat with a six-try defeat of a plucky Wells side, writes Tony Pomeroy.

For home full back, James Martin, it was a strange day – his parents were visiting from Australia and he delighted them and the crowd by scoring two tries in the first quarter.

Unfortunately, he then received two yellow cards within 15 minutes either side of half time – each for deliberate knocks-on which resulted in a red card.

Bridgwater threw the ball about with abandon in the first minutes – and when they stole a scrum against the head after six minutes, the ball was moved left for Martin to score an unconverted try in the corner.

Wells came back into the game and Aaron Cook missed a kickable penalty for the visitors but then gave a scoring pass inside to centre Luke Jenkins who equalised with an unconverted try.

From the kick-off, Bridgwater turned the ball over in midfield and moved it left to Martin who, from 45 metres out, tore through the Wells defence for a try at the posts converted by Chris Ashwin.

Matt Hastie broke through again from the kick-off but Bridgwater had to be content with a penalty, kicked to the corner.

Bridgwater set up the inevitable driving maul from the lineout and Hastie was driven over for the third try, converted by Ashwin.

Wells then applied pressure and Martin received the first yellow card of the day. Almost immediately, Wells launched an innocuous-looking move going right, the ball somehow reached Stefan Davies on the wing and, from 40 metres out, he evaded a number of would-be tacklers to score an excellent individual try.

The last act of the first half was a yellow card for visiting flanker Tom Clark for diving on the prostrate Nick Francis and the half-time score was 26-10.

Wells brought on Alex Payne into the second row at half-time and his involvement lasted under three minutes before he was red-carded for punching.

The resulting penalty to touch turned into another driving maul with a try for prop Joe Bussell – Ashwin’s conversion from wide out hit the post.

Then came Martin’s second yellow/red card leaving both sides with 14 men.

Almost immediately, Wells scored under the posts through centre Alex Knight but the hurried conversion hit the post.

After Rob Thompson had been tackled into touch almost on the Wells line, the only other score of the half came when Nick Francis somehow wriggled over the line right in the corner. Ashwin converted with a superb kick.

Bridgwater ended the game with only 12 players following yellow cards for Rob Allen and Garryn Basson, but the home side held out for a 38-15 win.

Albion: James Martin, Garryn Basson, Rob Allen, Chris Ashwin, Nick Francis, Jervis Manupenu, Roger Drabble, James Bryant, Matt Hastie, Joe Bussell, Rob Thompson, Dan Kemmish, Nick Spellissy, Ollie Dunn (capt), Taylor Buller. Replacements (all used): Adrian Tew, Ali Blundell, Stu Heal.

l Bridgwater have no game on Saturday but look forward eagerly to the visit of local rivals North Petherton for a 3pm kick- off on January 31.

If you intend coming to this must-see game, get there early as a large and vociferous crowd is expected.