Clifton 34, Bridgwater & Albion 10 (From Bridgwater Mercury)

Clifton 34, Bridgwater & Albion 10

9:17am Sunday 7th February 2010

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NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION 2 (South)

CLIFTON 34, Bridgwater & Albion 10

By Tony Pomeroy

BRIDGWATER supporters were left totally shell-shocked by this result, which flattered the home side. The game proved that rugby is indeed a game of two halves.

Bridgwater’s team welcomed the returning Gavin Hancock but missed the absent Wayne Stiling and the injured Stuart Evans and playing up the incline dominated the first half.

Dan Kemmish ruled the lineout, providing a lot of good ball for the talented backs. In the backs, James Stark was immense, making many good breaks and generally causing the home defence a number of problems.

In the early minutes, apart from Stark’s attacking runs, Will Webster also took the eye. Greg Charlton, taking over the kicking in the absence of Evans, tried an ambitious penalty from 48 metres but was narrowly wide. With Matt Hastie also stealing a scrummage against the head, Clifton were living on scraps.

The home side had a chance with a 60 metre kick into the Bridgwater 22, but a counterattack initiated by Gavin Hancock took play back to the Clifton line.

A period of pressure on the home line saw Bridgwater move the ball left from a scrum on the home 22, Griffin’s clever pass released Stark whose break and well-timed pass saw Sam Showering cross in the corner and run round behind the posts for the opening try. Charlton’s conversion gave Bridgwater a well-deserved 7-0 lead.

Bridgwater held on to their lead despite being under pressure towards the end of the half until one of the more bizarre incidents I have ever seen.

The former rugby league referee, Karl Kirkpatrick, who did not give a display worthy of a man being fast-tracked to the RFU panel, blew for half time and all the players trooped towards the dressing room. It was then noticed that assistant referee, Brian Ravenhill, had a flag extended for foul play. He reported that James Stark, who was being held in a headlock at the time, had knocked his assailants arm from around his neck and this was foul play worthy of a yellow card – a truly amazing decision.

The game resumed with a penalty to Clifton, five metres from the Bridgwater line. Clifton opted for a scrummage, which went down. They were offered another penalty, which they turned into a scrummage. It went down again on the far side to the referee and to Bridgwater’s amazement, Mr Kirkpatrick then awarded Clifton a penalty try converted by John Barnes.

Bridgwater were a different team in the second half. Clifton upped their game and Bridgwater struggled to overcome the man advantage.

Clifton pressed from the kick-off and after three minutes pressure, hooker, Sam Wilkes was driven over for an unconverted try.

As soon as Stark returned to the fray, hooker Matt Hastie took his place in the bin for a technical offence.

Hancock gave the visitors hope with a good run and kick out of defence but Clifton came straight back and scored another unconverted try through Sam Kent.

With former Bridgwater skipper, Matt Britton, coming on for his first game since joining Clifton and Roger Drabble also coming on for Bridgwater, both scrum-halves were changed. Drabble’s first action was to charge down a Clifton clearing kick but the ball went dead before he could score. Charlton, who again impressed with his all-round ability, then narrowed the gap with a 20 metre penalty.

With just over ten minutes remaining, Bridgwater were hopeful of getting something out of the game but, not for the first time this season, it was not to be.

The final minutes saw Clifton run in three tries and totally ruin Bridgwater’s day. Replacement flanker, David Cook, scored an unconverted try within seconds of joining the game and then Sam Kent got his second. After a period of play flowing from end to end, Kent broke through the visiting defence. He kicked ahead and with the Bridgwater defence at sixes and sevens, just won the race to touch down his own kick. Adam Jones converted.

Deep in injury time, Bridgwater were harshly penalised for an alleged late tackle near their own line and from the resulting play, Ben Glynn crashed over in the final act of the game.

The Clifton hierarchy were very complimentary of the Bridgwater play and could not understand how they are in the league position they are. Clifton played well in the final quarter but were really flattered by the score.

Once again, Bridgwater could claim to have suffered under the hands of the officials. When you are down, human nature being what it is, things do tend to go against you and Bridgwater seem to get very few 50/50 calls from the officials. The team have talent and are playing some very good rugby. They do not really deserve to be where they are in the league. They will try again at Dings next week and hope for better with a Scottish exchange referee.

Scorers

Clifton tries: Kent (2), Wilkes, Cook, Glynn, penalty try

Cons: Barnes, Jones

Bridgwater & Albion try: Showering

Conversion: Charlton

Penalty: Charlton

Bridgwater & Albion team

: Gavin Hancock, Sam Showering, Jake Childs, James Stark, Will Webster, Dominik Griffin, Kevin Williams (rep Roger Drabble 58), Alan Trunks (rep Damian Marsh 78), Matt Hastie (rep Chey Bryce 71), James Bryant, Ali Blundell (rep Chey Bryce 49-59), Steve Hunt, Dan Kemmish, Carl Brown, Greg Charlton, Reps not used: Matt Northey, Steve Ward.

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