Match report:
Friday 20th August
Wellington 12 - Chard 20
Chard travelled to Wellington in this pre season friendly to take the field for the first time since March 2020.
With Wellington sitting a league above Chard after their promotion in the 2020/21 season Chard anticipated a tough return to rugby after such a long lay off.
Wellington kicked off and both sides looked eager to dominate physically with some early big collisions going in from each team.
It was Chard that seemed to settle first however and the first scrum
Of the night saw the home pack driven back over their own ball by the Chard forwards. Chard had much of the ball in the opening 10 minutes and were looking very comfortable in possession. With just over 15 mins played it was Chard that took the lead after a kick through and chase from winger Emil Szydełko. The conversion was missed but the visitors were looking confident.
Play for the next 5 minutes resembled the first 15 with Chard playing much of rugby and in particular Number 8 Ollie Harris and centre Billy Brooks carrying hard into the opponent’s half on several occasions.
Chard again pinned Wellington back and eventually their resolute defence was broken for the second time with Ben Thomas finding a gap from close range to crash over. The conversation was missed from Thomas but Chard led 10-0 with 20 minutes played.
Wellington knew that at this point they needed to get into the game before Chard started to take a real strangle hold and it was now their turn to pressure the away teams line and looked very dangerous with ball in hand. Chard defence held firm however and after some crunching hits from the outstanding Matt Tinley, Ryan Hellier and Jack Oaten it was against the run of play that they got their third try from a kick charge down by Ross Colenso. Ben Stead was sharp enough to following it up and touch down to give Chard 15-0 half time lead.
The second half started much the same as the first with the two sides defences looking to force the attack into a mistake.
Chard really had the upper hand in the scrum through and it looked normal service resumed for the chard front row of Biss, Madge and Aplin as the referee started to penalise the Wellington scrum on several occasions allowing Chard to kick for territory and keep the ball from their well organised lineout.
Both teams were now exchanging some heavy blows and penalties against Chard were starting to take its toll and allowing Wellington back into the game.
As the run of play suggested it was the home side that started to put some sustained pressure on the chard line and eventually got off the mark with a well worked try under the posts. The conversion was good and with 30 minutes to play Wellington we’re back in the game at 7-15.
At this point Chard knew that they would have to produce a gutsy finish to get anything out of the game and With Wellington emptying their large bench bringing on fresh legs at regular intervals the smaller squad of Chard had to rally and dig deep.
That they did and it was the visitors who got the next score. Good tactical kicking from fly half Thomas was keeping the home side pinned back. Herbert at scrum half was looking to squeeze through any gap and powerful willing runs Goetz, Aplin, oaten and Brookes were keeping the defence honest.
After a sustained amount of phases in the Wellington 22 and with 20 minutes left to play Second Row Max Gosden deservedly forced his way over to extend Chards lead to 20-7.
Wellington however were not to be discounted at this point as again they made good field position from the re-start.
Some over eagerness from chard gave another barrage of penalties away and as a result prop Dave Biss was shown a yellow card. With players looking understandably weary Wellington now had much of the ball and Chard although heroic at times in defending their
Line were eventually outnumbered and Wellington scored an unconverted try to make the final 5 minute very interesting with the score at 12-20
What resulted from the try was a yellow card for both sides after some overheated exchanges the game was to be played to the near death with Wellington having 14 men and Chard 13.
Wellington continued from where they left off trying to force their way over to close the gap but chard held firm and were delighted to hear the final whistle, winning 20-12.
The chard side can take massive positives from the effort, commitment and endeavour shown after such a long lay off. They looked very organised in attack and in particular their defence was outstanding. This will certainly give them confidence with only 2 weeks until they start their new league season at home against Truro on 4th September.
Next Friday 27th August Chard welcome local neighbours Crewkerne for their second pre season friendly. 7-30pm KO
