ON a blustery afternoon, Bridgwater were always expecting a tough match during their visit to Chippenham, but were certainly hoping for a better showing than the scoreline which resulted.

A Chippenham kick-off was soon turned into Bridgwater possession and control in the opening five minutes. However, this control was short-lived as two penalties led to three points from the boot of No 11, Christian Novik.

After eight minutes, No14 Matt Rhodes scored a try on the right wing and although the conversion was missed, Chippenham’s hooker caught the ball from the kick-off and ran unimpeded the full length of the Bridgwater half to score on the right. Chippenham missed the conversion.

A period of open play followed with both sides running the ball and also conceding turnover ball in breakdowns which made for good, middle-of-the-park rugby for the next 20 minutes.

A long delay due to an injury to Bridgwater prop, Joe Bussell, resulted in Russell coming on and reorganisation of the front row.

In the 42nd minute, Chippenham broke down the right wing again to score a try by Tom Baldwin, which was duly converted. Bobby Lyons scored in the 47th minute converted by No15 Chris Simmons and converted by No15 to leave the scores at 34-0 at half-time.

The punishment continued in the second half by Chippenham and, despite the home side going down to 14 men, Bridgwater could not stop the handling errors which riddled their game as they fell to defeat.

The only highlight of the second half was Sam Osborne’s try which he failed to convert.