Tribute South West 1 – West

North Petherton 10 – Chard 15

Saturday 28th November 2015

Report By Simon Freeman

A last minute converted try broke Pethy hearts in a tough battle from two teams looking to find some form and shift themselves up the table. In mild but blustery conditions both teams showed ambition only to come in short with their final plays.

Captains Comments (Damian Griffin) ” I’m really disappointed, I thought the backs had a good game, they played with the discipline that we talked about with regards to penalties! The forwards found it tough against a well organised unit. To put this right we have got to get everyone training together so we are familiar with each others play! I know we can improve but it starts with training!”

The early stages saw some strong defending as both teams nullified each other. Both teams looked to play attacking rugby but conditions influenced proceedings. Pethy managed to find some fluency and good play from Dominik Griffin and John Gallagher allowed Mike Stevens to score in the corner, Harry Roberts converted. Chard bounced back and found success upfront and began to punish Pethy and finally Mark Parson went over to close the gap 7-5.

The second half was a battle throughout with neither team giving anything but lacking fluidity as it moved from set piece to set piece. Chard again found their form upfront and shunted Pethy backwards from which the official awarded a penalty which was kicked by George Dowes as Chard took the lead. The game became even more tense and every mistake bought frustration. Pethy worked their way in to the Chard 22 and against the wind and to the right of the posts Olly James dropped a goal to huge cheers as Pethy retook the lead 10-8.

The last few minutes saw Chard throw everything at Pethy and in the dying moments Paul Mortensen dived over, Dowes converted to snatch the victory 10-15