Southend Rugby Club thrash Bridgwater and Albion

Southend 61 - 0 B&A RFC

Match Report by Tony Pomeroy

Hard hit by injuries and non-availability of players, Bridgwater expected a difficult trip to Southend – and that is exactly what they got. Despite the score-line, the Bridgwater players did not give up and earned a great deal of praise from the match officials for the way they tried to play rugby right to the bitter end.

Southend, who were relegated themselves last season, were very clinical in their finishing, punishing almost all of Bridgwater’s mistakes with scores.  The home side were bigger, faster, fitter and a great deal more experienced than the visitors and the final result was never really in doubt.  Having said that, Bridgwater did not deserve to lose by such a margin.

Bridgwater dominated the opening stages.  They had high hopes when Matt Britton stole the ball at a scrummage to set up an attack but their reward – a 40m penalty by Stuart Evans was narrowly wide. Matt Richards was denied two possible scores by the referee, firstly for a forward pass and secondly being judged a whisker offside as he gathered an exquisite chip by James Stark. It looked a harsh decision. Each time he had had a clear run to the line and Bridgwater could have had seventeen points on the board.

The offside decision was costly.  Southend kicked the resulting penalty to the corner to set up their first attack, won the lineout and saw No8 Alan Barker cruise through for the opening try.  Andrew Frost converted as he did with all the other tries except the one on the stroke of half time.

The second try followed shortly.  Replacement centre, Chris Vaughan, threw an enormous miss-pass in midfield putting winger Mark Billings free and he scored easily.

Matt Richards then saved a third try with a last ditch tackle but it only postponed the inevitable.  Some poor tackling let in Chris Waring for the third try with barely a quarter of the game completed.

Bridgwater were now under the cosh.  The home scrum was very strong and Bridgwater made errors at lines-out.  However, they managed to keep Southend at bay until first half injury time when Chris Vaughan slipped through more attempted tackles to get the bonus point try and a 26-0 lead for Southend.

The second half started disastrously for Bridgwater.  Within seconds of the kick-off, Phil Triggoll fell awkwardly and dislocated his left shoulder. He was helped from the field to await the ambulance. He was eventually taken to Southend hospital where his shoulder was put back into place but as he was not released until 7-30 pm the team bus departure was delayed making it a very late arrival home.  Phil Triggoll will be out of rugby for about three months causing more problems for an already injury-ravaged side. Veteran and occasional player, Damian Marsh, a committee man now, had accompanied the team as replacement prop and did a good job in the circumstances.

Bridgwater tried hard but as they threw everything into attack, Southend capitalised on the occasional mistakes and counterattacked very well, scoring another five tries through Chris Green, Jake Fisk, Alan Barker again, Lee Guess and Andrew Frost.  Bridgwater brought on Nick Northey for his first taste of rugby this season and two newly registered players, Andrew Jeanes and Tom Denovan made their debuts.   To avoid relegation, Bridgwater now have to win at least four more matches than Henley Hawks and that will be a very big task.  While there is still a chance, Bridgwater will have hope, but it looks increasingly likely that Bridgwater and Taunton will be swapping league positions next season.

Bridgwater now have to regroup for the visit of another side relegated last season, Westcombe Park, when they will hope to narrow the gap between themselves and Barnes at the bottom of the league table.

Scorers : Southend          
Tries:    Barker (2), Billings, Waring, Vaughan, Green, Fisk, Guess, Frost Cons:    Frost (8)

Bridgwater Team
Matt Richards (rep Andrew Jeans 68),  Kevin Williams (rep Tom Denovan 68), Mike Mangeolles,  Tito Elisara,  James Stark,  Stuart Evans,  Matt Britton (Capt),  Phil Triggoll (rep Damian Marsh 41),  Chey Bryce,  James Bryant, Steve Hunt,  Dan Kemmish,  Carl Brown,  Jamie Rudkin,  Greg Charlton (rep Matt Northey 64)

Rep not used :    Rob Prescott