Sat 26 Feb 2022
Winscombe II 10 - 15 Chard II
By Gavin Smillie
Chard 2s had another away trip as they traveled to Winscombe whos 2nd XV sit mid table coming off the back of wins against Minehead and Cheddar in recent weeks, Chard are on a winning run of 5 games in a row and undefeated in 9 so looking to extend their lead at the top of the table.
Wiscome opted to play their game on their 'small' pitch and it became clear early on that they knew how to use this to their advantage and with the wind against Chard and it only took the home team 3 minutes to take the lead from a penalty in front of the posts to make it 3-0. Chard looked strong with ball in hand but struggled to get out into space largely due to a good rush defence from Winscome who frustrated Chard and forced errors in the early stages.
With 15 minutes gone Chard eventually had a breakthrough with good work from the forwards eventually allowing Steve Long to pick up from the base and with Luke Aplin they bundled over the line for the first try of the game but the wind proved to strong for the kicker so Chard had a slender lead 3-5.
Billy Vernon was the next to break the home sides line after 30 minutes of play but the ref spotted a knock on and brought play back to the half way where Chard turned over the scrum and began the slow process of forwards rugby working their way down towards the Winscombe line but the home defence was solid and eventually they won a penalty and cleared their lines and with a fumbled ball resulting in a Winscombe Scrum on half way chard had to dig deep and with a fantastic effort once again turned over the scrum to give Chard possession.
With minutes remaining of the first half Winscombe upped their game and a missed tackle on the Chard 22 gave the home team a number advantage and they deservedly got a try with probably with the best bit of running rugby all match and their kicker made no mistake giving Winscombe the lead at the break 10-5.
The second half started slowly with both teams making little impact, maybe a sign of two good defensive set ups, both teams amongst the top teams for least points conceded, Chard finally made a breakthrough only for the ball to be held up and a goal line clearance was not helped by the wind leading to a 5 meter defencive scrum for the hosts, Chard had to fancy their chances but were penalised allowing Winscombe to clear once again.
Warren Lewis was forced to come off with a severed tongue being replaced by Jon Hursthouse and with a change at nine Chards attack changes shape and finally Billy Vernon got a deserved try bringing the score level and Sam Mouland stepped up and put chard in the lead with 70 minutes on the clock, 10-12.
The final 10 minutes saw some powerful tackling from Chard to keep the Winscombe attack at bay and when the home team conceded a penalty the smart move was to allow Sam Mouland to have another kick at the posts increasing the lead to 10-15 meaning the home team must cross the line to get anything in the dying minutes.
Chard held firm, credit to both teams for a great defensive game with Chard increasing their unbeaten run to 10 games and remain on top of the Tribute Somerset 2 South league for another week with a 10 point gap between them and Somerton who they play in a fortnight, next week Chard travel to Yeovil who have had a hit and miss season so far and currently sit in fifth spot in the league.
Chard team A Lewis, B Robinson, L Aplin, S Long, T Spurway, R Faninka, L Hill, W Lewis, N Carnell, S Mouland, K Smillie, N Crouch, D Lock, B Vernon, F Shoemark Subs: J Cottey, J Hursthouse, R Usher, G Watts
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