Tribute South West One West 

Newent 27 Bridgwater & Albion 0

BRIDGWATER and Albion’s hopes of a play-off place sank into the mud at Newent, writes Tony Pomeroy.

The Gloucestershire side - who looked to be a solid unit - were much more streetwise than the Somerset outfit and deserved their bonus-point victory.

In scrum half, James Dean, the home side had the man of the match, as not only did he score three tries, he was the controlling influence in the game.

He even took over as skipper when Newent lost their captain and centre, Ross Webb, to a leg injury early in the game.

Bridgwater had the better of the opening exchanges but, despite exerting pressure on the home line, failed to take any of the chances on offer.

Newent gradually began to exert their influence on the game and take the play to the visitors.

They could have opened the scoring after 15 minutes but replacement Joe Goatley was wide with a penalty from 40m.

The opening score for Newent was a chapter of accidents.

At a line out on the Bridgwater 22, the referee allowed the very crooked throw to continue - Newent got to the Bridgwater line and were awarded a scrum. Bridgwater stole the scrum but knocked on and from the second scrum, Dean broke blind for his first try - Goatley could not convert.

The next quarter of an hour was fairly even, as play moved from end to end with neither side looking capable of changing the score.

Bridgwater twice scorned kickable penalties in their quest for tries.

With the stop watch registering 42 minutes, the referee somehow allowed play to continue even further and from another scrum five metres from the Bridgwater line, flanker George Phelps crashed over for another unconverted try.

Bridgwater attacked early in the second half, but a lost ball on the Newent line cost them an immediate 65 metres as the home side broke away.

From a maul following a lineout, on Bridgwater's ten metre line, number eight Dan Fletcher broke clear and handed on to Dean who scored his second try, which, like the previous two remained unconverted.

Bridgwater's Nick Spellissy then saw yellow for foul play, and Newent should have scored again, but knocked on in the act of scoring.

They achieved their bonus-point after 26 minutes when, from a five metre scrum, Dean got his hat trick - again unconverted.

The final try came when wing Brett Gardner caught a clever cross-field chip to leave Tom Webb a relatively easy conversion making the final score 27-0.

Realistically, this second defeat in a row will make it very difficult to overtake Newent and Thornbury in the chase to get to the play-offs in April, but the players will surely continue to give of their best, starting with the home fixture against Wells on February 20, with a 2.30 pm kick off.

Bridgwater's second XV were in action at College Way and ran out 40-3 winners over Wyvern in Somerset One.