CHARD RUGBY REPORT
 FOR SATURDAY 3RD FEBRUARY 2007
 BY GLYN HUGHES

SOMERSET PREMIER LEAGUE

STOTHERT & PITT  30PTS  CHARD 19PTS

Chard once again lost to their bogy side and according to injured skipper Jim Wagstaff they did not really perform too well on the day.
It is usually imperative to have the Stothert slope in your favour in the second half when players are beginning to get exhausted so it seemed an amazing decision by Chard to win the toss and decide to play with the slope in the first half. Anyway the decision was made and Chard took an early lead when they won good clean ball from a lineout and drove over for a try which was credited to hooker Jon Hendy. Jordon Issacs added the conversion. Stothert came back strongly and reduced the deficit with two well taken penalty goals. The home side were actually running the ball well and could  have scored several tries but fortunately for Chard their handling was not up to scratch and they missed out on the opportunities they created.
Chard then made them pay when fullback Ben Stead came into the line and scored a fine try in the corner which was not converted. In the final minutes of the first half Stothert at last handled the ball well and ran in their first try which they converted to lead 13-12 at the interval.
Chard now had to play up the slope and experience has always shown that you usually need a cushion of quite a few points  to level out the advantage the slope gives you especially when two such evenly matched sides play each other. Chard did not have this and Stothert took full advantage  and ran in three second half tries of which one was converted to go into a 30-12 lead. Chard were missing the services of not just Wagstaff but also Johnny Porter , Chris Bond and Matt Ousley. This did not help their efforts but it did give an opportunity to others and it meant a 1st xv debut for 17year old David Baker who joined two other colts in the back division for Chard. Indeed it would be one of the  other  young  colts Ryan Helliar who would have the final say in the game when following a good passage of play he stepped neatly inside his opposite centre and scored a nice try which again was converted by Issacs.
 A disappointing result for Chard but not really surprising bearing in mind how difficult Chard have found it to win at this venue for some time.

Chard 2nd xv were given the points in their league match at Home to Wimborne because disappointingly Wimborne called off late on Friday night because they could not raise a side because too many of their players were injured or had tickets to see  England thrash the Scotland team at Twickenham!

NEXT WEEKEND CHARD 1ST XV PLAY IMPERIAL ON SUNDAY IN THE SOMERSET CUP (AWAY)
THE SECOND TEAM ENTERTAIN MINEHEAD 2ND XV AND THE 3RD XV TRAVEL TO MINEHEAD