South West 1 West
Bridgwater & Albion 15, Kingsbridge 12

ALBION made it four wins in a row, but they were made to fight all the way against a Kingsbridge side that played well above their lowly league position, writes Richard Walsh.

Before the start of the match, the crowd – well in excess of 500 – and the players from both sides observed a minute's silence in memory of Derek Cummins, a long-time supporter of the club who sadly passed away recently.

From the start this game was played at a fast and furious pace; it was Kingsbridge who had the better of the opening exchanges, and they could have taken the lead after 10 minutes had they slotted home a penalty.

For Albion, Sam Britton on the left wing made a good break on 15 minutes but his side were unable to take advantage of the scoring opportunity that followed.

Kingsbridge cleared their lines and surged back into home territory, where they were eventually rewarded with a penalty, which Ben Newman struck between the uprights to give the visitors the lead.

Shortly afterwards Newman extended the lead when he slotted home a second, long-range penalty that had been awarded for Albion failing to release the ball.

Albion came straight back, as Stuart Heal made a good break, but it came to nothing as the visitors' defence stood firm.

Just before the break, however, the home team were awarded a line-out close to the left hand corner, which eventually resulted in Luke Plummer touching down for an unconverted try, which made it 6-5 to Kingsbridge at half time.

The away side continued to look threatening after the interval, and three minutes after the restart they were awarded a penalty just inside their own half, again for not releasing, which George Banfield kicked to put his side further ahead.

However, just on the hour, Albion kicked to touch close to the corner and from the ensuing line-out Dave Norman went over for another unconverted try, which gave the hosts the lead for the first time in the game.

Kingsbridge countered well, as they did throughout the game, and 10 minutes later were awarded another long-range penalty, which Banfield kicked to regain the lead.

With 10 minutes remaining in the game, the decisive moment arrived – Plummer made a great run down the left wing and released Sam Britton, who scored his side's third unconverted try in the corner.

Both sides continued to fight until the end, but there was no further score, as it ended 15-12 to Bridgwater.

Bridgwater and Albion: Lewis Phillips, Harry Collins, Dave Norman, Dan Kemmish, Ethan Trebble-Westlake, Nick Spellissy, George Sluman, Micky Norman, Tom Fournier D’Able, Stuart Heal, Sam Britton, Luke Plummer, Ollie Dunn (capt), Oscar Tregenna, Roger Drabble. Replacements: Shaun Mahoney and James Collings (both used), Ewan Trebble-Westlake (not used).