Albion well beaten by Rosslyn Park (From Bridgwater Mercury)

Albion well beaten by Rosslyn Park

12:05pm Sunday 7th March 2010 in

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Rosslyn Park 62 Bridgwater and Albion 24

Report by Tony Pomeroy

A LOOK at the league table would lead the neutral to forecast a comfortable home win - and so it proved on Saturday, although Bridgwater gamely stuck to their task.

Bridgwater gave a debut to Athletic XV stalwart, John Frost, and had the recently re-registered Benn Norris on the bench.

When Rosslyn Park disrupted the first Bridgwater scrummage, the writing was on the wall for the visitors.

The home side were awarded a penalty and moved the ball through the phases for centre Billy O'Driscoll to score. Fly half Ross Laidlaw converted.

Bridgwater hit back when they caught a poor clearing kick and the ball reached Jack Kohler, who celebrated his eighteenth birthday by scoring under the posts with a flamboyant dive.

Greg Charlton converted to level the scores.

Laidlaw regained the lead for Park with a 30-metre penalty before Howard Quigley and man of the match Morgan Jones scored tries, both converted by Laidlaw.

Bridgwater continued to take the game to Park - and a smart lineout move saw Matt Hastie cross in the corner.

A fourth try, this time for skipper Rob Jewell, gave the home side a bonus point and a 29-12 half time lead.

Bridgwater replaced Damian Marsh, who had suffered a slight injury, with Benn Norris at the start of the half but Park continued in the same vein with an early try for Jones.

Bridgwater were defending desperately for ten minutes before a great chip, chase and catch from Gavin Hancock saw him release Will Topps to score wide out. With Charlton now off the field, Kohler converted with an excellent kick.

After 20 minutes, Norris was injured and when Bridgwater tried to bring back Marsh, who had recovered from the knock that forced him off, the officials refused to allow him on. Webster entered the field and the game continued with uncontested scrums.

Immediately, Laidlaw scythed through the Bridgwater defence for a superb try that he converted himself.

The match officials then decided Bridgwater were not allowed to bring on Webster as a replacement for an injured prop and removed him from the field, condemning Bridgwater to play the final 18 minutes one man short.

James Strong got the seventh try, courtesy of some Bridgwater shadow tackling, before another gift for the home side saw Will Collier scored an unconverted try.

Park's ninth try came from flanker, Jonny Barrett, converted by Laidlaw but there was just time for Matt Hastie to sneak an unconverted try in the corner with the last play of the game.

This try should gain Bridgwater a four try bonus point but, having fallen foul of the rule requiring teams to be able to replace injured props twice, Bridgwater may well suffer a two point deduction.

While the Bridgwater tackling was perhaps the worst of the season, the spirit of the players cannot be faulted.

Scorers: Rosslyn Park Tries: O'Driscoll (5), Quigley (17), Jones (23, 45), Jewell (35), Laidlaw (67) Strong (73), Collier (75), Barrett (80+) Cons: Laidlaw (5, 17, 23, 45, 67,73, 80+) Pen: Laidlaw (11)

Bridgwater and Albion Tries: Kohler (7), Hastie (34, 80+), Topps(60) Cons: Charlton (7), Kohler (60)

Bridgwater and Albion: Will Topps, Damian Griffin, Gavin Hancock, James Stark, John Frost, Dominik Griffin, Jack Kohler, James Bryant, Matt Hastie, Damian Marsh (rep Benn Norris H/T, rep Will Webster 61/67), Ali Blundell, Steve Hunt (Capt), Dan Kemmish, Carl Brown, Greg Charlton (rep Matt Northey 57).