South West One West

North Petherton 13, Bridgwater & Albion 26

THE new rugby season was back with a bang on Saturday as Bridgwater edged out North Petherton in a pulsating local derby at Beggars Brook, writes Tony Pomeroy.

The game, as befitted an old-fashioned local derby with bragging rights at stake, was not an open spectacle.

Bridgwater opened the scoring in the first minute - when the home side were adjudged offside in midfield, Chris Ashwin made no mistake with a simple 20 metre penalty.

Pethy hit back almost immediately when Bridgwater failed to roll away in the tackle and Harry Roberts levelled the scores.

Bridgwater conceded more ground to the home side and after a period of pressure, Jon Gallagher crashed over for the opening try, converted by Roberts to give the home side a 10-3 lead after only eight minutes.

The next quarter of an hour saw play move from end to end as both teams tried in vain to get on the scoreboard.

Bridgwater pressure eventually told as Rob Thompson crashed over when the forwards drove forward from a line-out near the home line. Ashwin's conversion was wide.

From the kick off, visiting skipper, Ollie Dunn caught the ball and drove 40 metres into the home half.

Referee, Nick Heath, then spotted home hooker Sam Williams' illegal use of the boot and he became the first yellow card of the season.

Bridgwater took full advantage, moving the ball quickly to the left to give James Brakes an unconverted try in the corner and give the visitors a 10-13 lead.

The home side had the better of the exchanges in the early minutes of the second period - Bridgwater brought on Luca Ercolani and the flanker was not slow to make his presence felt, before being shown a yellow card after only eight minutes on the pitch.

Bridgwater continued to concede penalties and eventually Roberts kicked a simple goal from 10 metres to equalise the scores.

North Petherton continued to press and it took a relieving penalty to clear the Bridgwater lines.

Another penalty, quickly taken by Dunn, saw the ball into touch in the home 22 – and yet another infringement saw Ashwin regain the lead for Bridgwater.

Ashwin added another penalty to make it 13-19, before Bridgwater sealed the win with a third try of the afternoon.

A Pethy scrum was taken against the head and when a home player attempted to kick the ball out of the back of the scrum to prevent a push-over try, the referee had no hesitation in awarding Bridgwater a penalty try, converted by Ashwin to give them an unassailable lead at 13-26.

Scorers:

North Petherton

Try: Gallagher; Con: Roberts; Pens: Roberts (2)

Bridgwater & Albion

Tries : Thompson, Brakes, Penalty Try; Con: Ashwin; Pens: Ashwin (3)

Referee : Nick Heath (Somerset Society)