South West One West

Kingsbridge 17,

Chard 10

Thirteenth-placed Kingsbridge welcomed twelfth-placed Chard to High House in the league last Saturday.

The Kings were keen to follow up on their gritty performance against Weston-super-Mare the previous week and hopeful of achieving only their third win of the season to close the gap on the visitors, who were five points ahead of them.

Kingsbridge faced the strong win the first half and the visitors used it fully to their advantage by pinning Kingsbridge back into the bottom corner with some regularity.

On 14 minutes one of the visitors’ long clearance kicks put Kings­bridge under pressure in their own 22 and the resulting scrum saw the hosts’ forwards taken back over their own line for the first try of the game.

With the simple conversion added, Kings­bridge trailed 0-7.

As the half progressed Kingsbridge got more of the measure of the visitors’ main threats and game plan and forced their way back more into the match.

On 24 minutes a break in midfield from flanker Ali Hamilton saw him find centre Isaac Rayworth in support and as Rayworth’s subsequent pass re­bounded rather fortunately into the arms of home lock James Pal­mer, he found himself clear with a run through the Chard 22 to score under posts.

Scrum-half George Jones added the simple conversion to tie up the scores at 7-7. This remained the score until the interval.

The scores remained level until 15 minutes into the second half when Jones landed a penalty that put Kings­bridge into the lead for the first time at 10-7.

Shortly afterwards the hosts enjoyed a period of sustained pressure deep in the Chard 22, where several forward surges for the line looked likely to result in the hosts’ second try.

However, the Chard defence held firm until Kingsbridge decided to move the ball wide to the backs, where they exploited the overlap through centre Ray­worth, who crossed over for the touchdown. Jones converted to put Kingsbridge further ahead at 17-7.

With around 10 minutes remaining the visitors reduced the deficit to 17-10 with a penalty to set up a nervous finale for the Kings­bridge players and their faithful home supporters. However, a defiant defensive display kept the visitors at bay as time was played out without too much alarm.

Kingsbridge remain in 13th place in the league table with 15 points from their 16 matches played so far.

This weekend sees Kingsbridge travel to face second-placed Clevedon in the league while the A XV return to Merit Table action at High House for the visit of Exmouth thirds with KO at 2.30pm.

Kingsbridge Colts entertain local rivals Ivybridge in the Devon Cup Merit Table on the Longfield Pitch at 2pm.