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Bridgwater & Albion 29, Avonmouth Old Boys 15

BRIDGWATER climbed to second place with a 29-15 bonus point win on Saturday, writes Tony Pomeroy.

Playing with a stiff breeze at their backs, Bridgwater had the best of the opening exchanges.

After six minutes, home scrum-half Roger Drabble put a speculative kick deep into the Avonmouth 22, where the ball was fumbled for Bridgwater to regain possession.

They moved the ball left, where a deft pass from Matt Hastie put James Martin in the clear to score the opening try in the corner. Stu Heal kicked just wide with the conversion.

Avonmouth took the game back to Bridgwater, but despite two penalties in the home 22 the Albion defence held firm.

When Bridgwater got back to the other end the Avonmouth defence were penalised and Heal kicked a simple penalty to make the score 8-0.

Avonmouth continued to pressure the home line and scored a somewhat strange try.

Centre Elliot Nightingale was haring down the left wing as a Bridgwater defender tried to tear the ball from his grasp.

The ball flew over the Bridgwater line and Nightingale was first to react, grounding it in the corner. Joe Wearne could not convert, however.

The kick-off did not go the requisite 10m, but Bridgwater won the resulting scrum with a clean strike against the head – a rare event in modern rugby.

Minutes later, Avonmouth took the lead. From a scrum in midfield, they moved the ball right, where it reached Billy Reynolds on the wing to fly over for an unconverted try.

Approaching injury time in the first half, Jervis Manupenu broke clear for the home side, but elected to go himself rather than give a scoring pass, and the chance was lost.

However, in the final minute he broke through again and this time he scored under the posts.

Heal converted for a 15-10 half-time score, and with Avonmouth to play with the breeze in the second half it was anyone’s game.

After only four minutes Avonmouth hooker Craig Britton appeared to strike his opposite number and was duly sin-binned.

A couple of Bridgwater penalties took play deep into the Avonmouth 22, where a driving maul from a line-out saw the inevitable try, credited to Joe Bussell. Heal’s conversion stretched the home lead to 22-10.

Bridgwater achieved their 15th bonus point of the season midway through the half.

James Bryant started a move on the Avonmouth 10m line and burst through the initial defence.

The ball was moved on and eventually reached a fast-moving Rob Allen, who proved unstoppable as he scored under the posts. Heal’s conversion stretched the lead to 29-10.

Avonmouth had the last word when full back Andy Taylor, who had looked a dangerous runner all afternoon, crossed in the corner after a period of pressure.

He could not convert his own try and the score remained at 29-15, giving Bridgwater their eighth consecutive league victory.

Bridgwater: James Martin, Garryn Basson, Rob Allen, Stu Heal (rep Jonathon Hill 67), Oscar Tregenna, Jervis Manupenu, Roger Drabble, James Bryant, Matt Hastie, Joe Bussell (rep Adrian Tew 64), Rob Thompson (rep Ali Blundell 48), Dan Kemmish, Nick Spellissy, Ollie Dunn (Capt), Taylor Buller.

Referee: Adam Wookey (Dorset & Wilts).