Strong second half sees Seasiders to victory

On a day where conditions were dictated by a strong gale going directly down pitch, a strong second half performance from the visitors saw them return with a bonus point following five tries and victory.

With both sides struggling somewhat from unavailability and injury, Chard, having won the toss decided to allow Weston to make best use of the elements in the first half. The usual strong start was once again on display, and it was of little surprise when after some sustained strong running from the forwards, two lovely offloads created space for hooker Mike Hocking to cross.

Soon after, the Chard flanker was tackled and driven back over his own line. Having placed the ball down, quick thinking lock Ashley Russell, dived over to touch down and to the crowd’s surprise, the referee correctly awarded a second try to the visitors.

Chard hit back with a penalty goal from the boot of fly half Hellar, and in the thirtieth minute, the hosts got right back into the game when further good tight play from the strong home pack, Weston skipper Sparks was sent to the sin bin, and a few minutes later , Chard took advantage of the extra man to drive towards the Weston line and their flanker Spurdle picked up and crossed for a deserved try.

A half time score of 10 – 8 to Weston certainly did not feel enough given the conditions, and many of the visiting support were left feeling that a number of good opportunities created in the first half but not taken were going to cost Weston.

However the team, and in particular the forwards had other ideas. What followed was a fantastic effort from the pack and their scrum half Hayden Tuttiett, who gave his best display in a Weston shirt, and deservedly picked up the man of the match award.

Within five minutes of the restart, a series of strong running drives from the forwards set up what seemed a certain score but with the referee unsighted, a scrum was awarded. By now Weston were beginning to do well at scrum following early pressure from the chard pack, and George Sparks picked up and went over, fly half Dan Lomax converted superbly.

Soon after, Weston attacked from their own 22 , and scrum half Tuttiett broke clear before feeding to wing Ollie Caton on the half way line, and who beat the covering defence with a mixture of pace and power,. With Lomax again converting, Weston had extended their lead to 24 points to 8.

To their credit, the home pack never gave up and following a series of drives, Chard were awarded a penalty try which was converted, with Hocking being yellow carded. With the score at 24 -15, the home pack tried everything to cross the Weston line but some excellent defence restricted Chard to just a penalty goal.

With eight minutes to go, scrum half Tuttiett made the game safe when on his own ten metre line he robbed his opposite number, and cantered 60 metres to get a throroughly deserved score.

This second half performance was excellent, and the pack can take much credit for their ball retention and driving play, and the team as a whole can be pleased with an improved defensive performance.