Sat 30 Oct 2021
By Glyn Hughes
Chard kept up their unbeaten record at home this season making it five from five with this win against their Devon opponents .
In good playing conditions and with a crowd in excess of 250 cheering them on Chard really dominated in the opening half and to be honest the game could have been out of sight as far as the visitors were concerned by the break.
Chard spurned an easy chance early from but then after less than ten minutes play they did take the lead when their powerful forwards drove the visitors back over their own line and acting scrum half Ben Thomas touched it down. Niall crouch added the extras and Chard were on their way. 7-0
Kingsbridge hardly got out of their half in the first quarter and Chard increased their lead with a carbon copy of the first try with Thomas again getting the final touch. The conversion was missed but Chard now led 12-0
After 20minutes Chard lost skipper Luke Aplin when he suffered a gash on the head following a totally accidental clash with his opposite number. He was replaced by Garion Woodcock.
Kingsbrige had some very big forwards but they were outplayed by the solid and compact home eight.
Despite their dominance Chard were making a bit of a hash of the opportunities on offer and did not score again until the last play of the half when right wing Lewis Hole made a clever run , kicked ahead and then gathered the ball for a splendid third try. Crouch added the conversion points and held a useful 19pt advantage at the break.
Surely Chard would score a bonus point try early in the second half and then open up to record another big win.
Not a bit of it!
Crouch added a penalty in the opening minutes to take their lead to 22pts but then the game as far as Chard were concerned turned into a very scrappy affair . Someone needed to calm things down a bit and get the team to play to their strengths but a combination of factors meant that this simply did not happen. The handling was a bit wild and the link between forwards and backs fell away and this plus a much improved all round second half display from Kingsbridge kept Chard from getting even close to a fourth bonus point try.
Kingsbridge were rewarded for their efforts when late in the game Henry Blake scored a consolation try close to the posts which was converted by George Banfield.
Despite not getting a number of things right it has to remembered that Chard still won the game comfortably enough. The front row players of Aplin, Dave Biss, David Morton and Ben Robinson are very strong and so far look to be a match for anyone in this division and the young backline does have huge potential.
Not the best performance seen by the home crowd but a win is a win!
Chard will have a stern test next weekend when they travel the short distance to take on Newton Abbott. The Devon side lost very narrowly at Burnham on Sea on Saturday by 29-22.
Chard will need to be on top of their game and would love to see as many supporters as possible travelling down to cheer them on.
Supporters please note that now the clocks have gone back this game kicks of at 2 30pm.
EVERYONE IN CHARD IS REMINDED THAT THE CLUB WILL BE HOLDING ITS FIREWORKS DISPLAY FOR THE TOWN AT THE GROUND ON FRIDAY 5THNOVEMBER. GATES WILL OPEN AT 6 30PM AND AS WELL AS THE FIREWORKS THERE WILL BE LIVE MUSIC, A BAR AND FOOD OUTLETS.
IT SHOULD BE A GREAT NIGHT.
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