CHARD RUGBY REPORT FOR SATURDAY 5TH JANUARY 2008 BY GLYN HUGHES

SOMERSET PREMIER LEAGUE         KEYNSHAM 25PTS CHARD 5PTS

Hit by late withdrawals because of the current flu bug Chard turned up at Keynsham and were confronted  with  a mud bath of a pitch and a very committed home side who were keen to ensure that Chard did not repeat the success they had against the same side in early November.
Chard had an early chance to go ahead from a penalty goal but the conditions were not conducive for kicking and the chance was lost. Chard then lost the services of both Steve Broome and Johnny Porter for ten minutes when they were sent to the sin bin.  Keynsham now had a  big advantage and made Chard pay by scoring two unconverted tries. They increased their lead with a breakaway try in the early part of the second half before Broome was shown a second yellow card which meant he could take no further part in the game. Despite all this Chard were playing some fine rugby and Robin Singleton had a try disallowed when he drove over from a lineout for what looked a perfectly good effort. Ben Stead then nearly finished off another good effort from the Chard side but the greasy ball slipped out of his grasp. Keynsham increased their lead with a penalty goal and another unconverted try before in the dying minutes Chard got the try they deserved when Bushy Singleton got over for a good try following some constructive play by his fellow forwards.
Chard hooker and former skipper Jon Hendy commented ' that despite the result Chard had played well for long periods but found it difficult to cope when they had lost players at various stages during the game'

SOMERSET 3 SOUTH      CHARD 40PTS BURNHAM ON SEA 19PTS

Chard scored eight tries in what skipper Wallis described as an excellent entertaining game. Star of the show for the home side was Billy Vernon who scored five tries with others coming from Danny Crabb, Ben Partridge and Matt Tinley. Chard were unable to kick any conversions and this added to the fact that Burnham played a full part in a good game kept the match competitive throughout.

DORSET AND WILTS 2 SOUTH   CHARD 0PTS BOURNEMOUTH 56PTS

As the score suggests the visitors won the game comfortably enough and according to skipper Andy Hopper would have won by even more if his side had not given everything. Chard tackled like demons and  David Baker was without doubt the star of the show for  them with an outstanding performance .

At this point in time there are no scheduled games for Chard next  weekend but a pool game is a possibility if enough players feel they do not need a week off.