South West 1 West
Matson 40, 
Bridgwater & Albion 32

BRIDGWATER & Albion brought the curtain down on their season when they travelled to Matson on Saturday, where at the end of a 12-try thriller it was the hosts who sneaked home thanks to a brace of tries in the dying minutes, writes Richard Walsh.

The visitors had the better of the opening exchanges and took the lead after 11 minutes when Jordan Buller won a turnover ball that began a move which ended with Kyran Devitt scoring the first try, which Heal duly converted.

Albion went further ahead through a Ryan Barnett try, to which Heal added the extras, making the score 14-0 to the visitors.

Matson started to get themselves into the game, though, and on 25 minutes opened their account when flanker Wasley went over for an unconverted try.

On half an hour Matt Ransom was yellow carded, soon after which the Gloucester-based side scored another unconverted try, this time through Porter, which made the score 14-10 at the interval.

Three minutes after the restart Jevon Brown gave Matson the lead, in response to which the visitors bounced back well as Ethan Trebble-Westlake scored following a good run by Ryan Barnett. 

Heal added the extras to regain the lead for Albion.

Shaun Mahoney was yellow carded but despite considerable pressure the visiting defence held firm in his absence.

The Somerset side then extended their lead when Devitt made good ground to set up a try in the corner for Barnett, which Heal was unlucky not to convert, and the score was 26-20.

Soon afterwards, Heal made no mistake when he slotted home a penalty for the visitors.

Almost from the restart, however, Matson were on the attack and fly-half Gwilliam went over for an unconverted try, making the score 29-25. 

The home side then scored another unconverted try, this time from Keating, which put them one point ahead going into the final five minutes.

Albion weren’t done yet and regained the lead thanks to a Heal penalty, but in the dying minutes of the game Matson scored two further tries through Gwilliam and Brown to claim victory over the valiant visitors.

Bridgwater & Albion: Kyran Devitt, Oscar Tregenna, Will Kerry, James Collings, Ryan Barnett, Stuart Heal, Tom Fournier, Matt Ransom, Jordan Buller, Lewis Phillips, Ethan Trebble-Westlake, Dan Kemmish, Nick Spellissy, George Sluman, Ollie Dunn.
Replacements: Shaun Mahoney, Tom Lewis, Karolis Urbonas.