“Weston too strong for Bridgy…..eventually! “

These two sides sadly do not play one another as often as they used to (although Bridgy are performing well in their League this season and harbour hopes of promotion), and a respectable crowd turned out on a lovely afternoon for rugby to watch what was a highly entertaining advertisement for Somerset Cup rugby. Shame on the sides that called off indiscriminately for the other quarter final matches!

Both teams rang the changes, experimenting with new combinations and players.

Weston Player/Coach Darren Crompton took the opportunity to stand back and appraise, much to the relief of the visiting front row, but there is strength in depth at Weston amongst the “growlers” and they started with Ed Hunt, Mike Hocking who has been excelling in the United team, and Marlen Walker, playing his first game since injury in September….not a bad front row!

The home side was reduced to 14 men after six seconds! Weston kicked off and flanker Joe Pullen tackled the “leaping” catcher in the air. The fact that the rotund Bridgwater player leapt all of six inches off the ground was immaterial. The law is the law and the yellow card was rightly proffered.

The visitors had the better of the opening exchanges, earning early penalties, two of which were kicked by fly half Chris Ashwin for a 6-0 lead after 21minutes, and Weston yet to mount a decent attack but on their first visit to the Bridgy line, the pack drove over for a regulation pushover try for Shaun Eaton, playing at No. 8 in place of the injured George Sparks. The conversion was missed but on the stroke of half time, another forward drive resulted in a score for Walker, converted by Chisholm for a 12-6 lead.

Weston caught Bridgy (and half the crowd) napping at the restart. The kick off was run back, and Harry Jones found ample space to splinter the home defence and give full back Ross Bennett a scoring pass, and a 17-6 lead.

The visitors reduced the arrears after 52 minutes. Weston had done well to repel an attacking line out on their own line, and appeared to have regained possession on their own 22. However, Oliver Dunn, who had been buzzing around, causing problems or giving away penalties in equal proportions like one of the “Inbetweeners on speed”, appropriated the ball from a Weston ruck, and much to his surprise, and to everyone elses’, the feisty little fellow was allowed a clear run to the line for a seven pointer. 17-13 became 24 -13 as the visitors’ overworked pack started to tire and the inevitable penalty try was awarded following a succession of infringements and transgressions, but to its’ credit, the visiting pack then managed its’ own rumbling score, touched down by Alistair Blundell and converted by Ashwin. 24-20 with ten minutes remaining and all to play for.

Weston then swamped their opponents, who tired visibly, with three tries in five minutes. Sylvan Edwards, who had twice been thwarted on the line, scored as play went from side to side until Bridgy ran out of cover. The kick off was cleanly recovered, the ball was swiftly moved to Jones on the wing who set off with 60 metres of open field in front of him. Winger Robert Allen, resplendent in ginger “Jihadi” beard, gave chase but the thoroughbred easily outpaced the workhorse to score in the corner. Chris Young exploited another huge gap to score, and convert his own try on the stroke of full time for a slightly unkind scoreline of 43-20 although the home side had scored seven tries against the two from Bridgwater.

Weston team… Bennett, Reyes, Jones, Edwards, Caton(Mackay R.), Chisholm, Tuttiett (Young), Hunt (Streeter), Hocking (Withers), Walker(Price), Glen (Rodgers), Russell (c), Pullen (Sprague), Johnston, Eaton.