Bridgwater & Albion earn memorable win against St Austell

IF second placed St Austell travelled to the Albion who started the day third from the bottom of the table expecting an easy victory they were in for a big surprise as the hosts produced their best performance of the season to run out the deserved winners, writes Richard Walsh.

The Albion players were jubilant at the end of the game and quite rightly so because they were not only more than a match for the Cornish high flyers, they were the better side on the day.

The hosts made their intentions clear from the off and after just three minutes a forceful run from deep in his own half by Taylor Buller, saw the ball passed to Oskar White in space who made a good break into the visitors territory before finding Will Monro who crossed for the try to the right of the posts. Stuart Heal added the extras to put Albion 7-0 into the lead.

St Austell mounted a number of attacks and on the quarter of an hour mark their pressure paid off when Dan Job scored a try which Matt Shepherd converted to level the scores.

The Cornishmen took the lead when Karl Ewudzi made a run down the right wing from his own half to score an unconverted try,

On 25 minutes Albion were awarded a penalty for offside 30 meters out which Heal slotted home to make it 10-12.

Five minutes later the visitors responded with a try by Cavan Boyer that Shepherd converted.

The last 15 minutes of the first half belonged to Albion with one memorable charge by Taylor Buller resulting in a rolling maul that crossed the line but the ball was held up.

Shortly after it was the turn of Jordan Buller to charge in to cross the line for a try which made the half time score 15-19.

Within a few minutes of the restart St Austell had a player yellow carded for a high tackle and from the resulting penalty Heal narrowed the gap to one point.

The visitors extended their lead not long afterwards when a second try by Job that was converted by Shepherd made it 18-26.

The Albion responded strongly and on 52 minutes a driving maul following a line looked to have secured a try, but again they were held up.

The Albion’s constant pressure was eventually rewarded shortly afterwards when they were awarded a penalty try following a high tackle that brought them to within one point of their opponents

With the clock edging closer to full time Bridgwater pressed for another score and were eventually rewarded when Monro found space on the right and went over for try in the corner.

Albion are without a game this weekend and are next in action when they host Thornbury on Saturday April 9th, before which the Friends of Bridgwater and Albion RFC are holding a lunch for which tickets are still available.