Tribute South West Division 1 West

North Dorset 17, Bridgwater & Albion 28

BRIDGWATER & Albion bounced back from their unexpected home defeat last week to take maximum points from their visit to newly-promoted North Dorset, writes Tony Pomeroy.

Matt Ruddle made his debut as early Bridgwater pressure earned a penalty for Matt House slotted the kick over. With the home side down to 14 men, the ball was fumbled by the home defence in their own 22 and the poacher, Matt Hastie, gathered cleanly and scored with a flamboyant dive.

After 26 minutes, Hastie took a quick penalty deep in his own half. The play moved up-field at pace and a second yellow card was issued to the home defence. However, they managed to hold out as twice Bridgwater crossed the home line but could not ground the ball.

With half time approaching, Bridgwater tried a new tactic - passing quickly to the winger. It worked and Toby Payne scored in the corner to register his first try for the club.

Into injury time, skipper Dan Kemmish left the field with a rib injury and North Dorset pulled the deficit back with a try to trail 10-13.

Early in the second half a penalty kick to the corner gave Albion a lineout and Matt Northey drove them over the home line for Matt Hastie to grab his second try of the afternoon.

And Bridgwater's bonus point came through Nick Spellissy to leave the travelling Bridgwater supporters ecstatic.

North Dorset came back at Bridgwater with an excellent move to close the scores to 17-23.

But man of the match Hastie helped to seal the win with a storming run deep in the home 22.

He was tackled but two more phases of play saw Northey dive over in the corner for a 17-28 win.

Next week is the derby match against North Petherton at Bath Road. Kick-off is at 2.30pm.

Team: Pippard, Basson, Allen, House, Payne, Griffin, Francis, Ruddle, Hastie, Bryant, Northey, Thompson, Spellissy, Dunn, Kemmish (C) Rolling replacements: Knight, Stradling, Drabble.

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