Bridgwater & Albion 14, Paignton 24

Bridgwater & Albion 14, Paignton 24

IN a game littered with stoppages, Bridgwater were undone by a Paignton side bouncing back from defeat last week, writes Tony Pomeroy.

The suspended Garryn Basson missed out but Albion welcomed back Matt House, Nick Spellissy and Chris Webber and, in an effort to solve the season long problem at loose-head prop, gave a league debut to Gary Saunders.

Paignton opened the scoring early on and after 15 minutes there were further injury concerns for Albion when winger Toby Payne had to leave the pitch with an ankle injury.

Bridgwater’s comeback into the game was halted when a somewhat telegraphed long pass on their own 10m line was intercepted by visiting fly half, Sam Poustie, who had an easy run to the try line.

On the stroke of half time, Ollie Dunn gave the home team hope with a determined run along the touchline from halfway. Despite many attempted tackles, including one around the neck just short of the line, he scored a magnificent individual try in the corner. Matt House converted with a superb kick.

The second half was a drab affair with Bridgwater having the territorial edge. With ten minutes left, Dunn narrowed the gap with a second try, converted by House. Moments later, Bridgwater lost the ball in their own 22 and Chris Hallet sealed the game with a try converted by Sandercock.

Paignton’s number eight Josh Theophanides was red carded in the final minute for a tip tackle. House attempted the resulting long range penalty which would have given Bridgwater a losing bonus point but his effort was just short.

Next week, Bridgwater visit Oldfield Old Boys. Kick-off is 3pm.

Team: Nick Francis, James Brakes, Matt House, Ollie Dunn, Toby Payne, Ashley Pippard, Dominik Griffin, Gary Saunders, Matt Hastie, James Bryant, Dan Kemmish (Capt), Rob Thompson, Nick Spellissy, Luke De Sylva, Chris Webber Rolling replacements all used: Gavin Knight, Matt Northey, Rhys Owen