CHARD RUGBY REPORT
FOR
SATURDAY14TH OCTOBER 2006
By Glyn Hughes

SOMERSET PREMIER LEAGUE

WELLS 20PTS  CHARD  24PTS

Chard recorded their 3rd away win of the season at Wells on Saturday but in all honesty they made very heavy weather of beating a side who although full of youthful enthusiasm should not even have been a match for a bigger, heavier and more skilful Chard side.
 Chard welcomed back Chris Bond into their side and injuries to several front row players meant that the veteran Crawford Morton was called out of retirement to help out. For the second time this season Chard failed to have their full set of players on the bench and it is to be hoped that this will not be allowed to happen again.
Chard started the game in fine fashion and dominated the early exchanges but they gave some penalties away which eased the pressure on the home side. Indeed it was the home side who went ahead after 7 minutes after getting into the Chard half for the first time. From a scrummage 25metres out Wells won good clean ball and a quick break down the right hand side of the pitch by Rob Wiseman left the Chard defence flat footed and he scored under the posts. Flyhalf Aaron Cook added the conversion to give Wells a7pt lead. Chard came back strongly and some lovely link up play between hooker Jon Hendy and wing James Herbert ended with Herbert scoring in the corner. Josh Finlay took the conversion and as he was about to kick the ball it fell off the kicking tee. He quickly picked up the ball and dropped kicked the ball over the posts. The referee could not explain why he would not allow the conversion to stand so Chard had to accept the situation and still trailed by 2 points. The Chard forwards were quite dominant with Alan Henley and Paul Wright to the fore and it was no surprise when some more good forward play led to Chards second try. From a lineout Chard vice captain Mark Parsons proved unstoppable and crashed over for an unconverted try.
Despite their overall dominance Chard were making a lot of basic errors particularly at the base of the scrum and from one of these Wells gained possession and Ben Knight broke clear to score an unconverted try after 28mins play. Cooke added a penalty for Wells just before half time and the home supporters were pleased to see their side reach the break leading by 15pts to 10pts. Wells had only had three meaningful excursions into the Chard half and had scored each time which was worrying feature of the Chard performance at this point.
Chard opened the second half well and after 5 mins. back row forward Frazer Mackie broke away from a driving maul to score Chards 3rd try. Flyhalf Twigg had taken over the kicking duties from Finlay who had left the field because of injury and he made no mistake with the conversion. Chards two point lead soon increased with a lovely try from17yr.old Ryan Hellier.  Srum half Jones who had had a jittery first half linked beautifully with Hellier down the blind side who took the ball at pace and burst through the home defence to score a great try under the posts. Twigg converted and Chard had what appeared to be a decisive lead. At this point Chard should have consolidated their position and run out comfortable winners. However this does not appear to be the Chard way and they did their level best to keep the home supporters excited by making mistakes at crucial times. Wells made them pay with a try from James Rowe 8 mins. from time which fortunately was not converted. Wells needed another try to get in front and they nearly got it when they charged down a kick only to fail to gather the loose ball cleanly with the line at their mercy.
A Wells spectator then got carried away with the emotions of the game and had to be ordered off the playing arena before the referee would allow the game to continue. Chard defended well in the dying minutes of the game and held on for another away victory. A win is a win but all the players know that they made hard work of things and could have won by a much bigger score.
CHARD TEAM:- MORTON, HENDY, BOND,WRIGHT,HENLEY, PARSONS, MACKIE, SUMMERS, JONES, TWIGG, KING, WAGSTAFF(CAPT)  HELLIER, HERBERT, FINLAY. REPLACEMENTS:- BAKER FOR FINLAY(25MINS) DERMAN FOR MORTON(50MINS)

NEXT SATURDAY CHARD PLAY ONLY THEIR SECOND HOME LEAGUE OF THE SEASON WHEN THEY ENTERTAIN CHEW VALLEY AT 3PM
BEFORE NEXT SATURDAYS GAME THE CLUB VICE PRESIDENTS ARE HOLDING THEIR FIRST PRE MATCH BUFFET LUNCH AT 1PM. MORE INFORMATION FROM MARTIN LIOCK TEL 01460 52959

DORSET AND WILTS LEAGUE 2 SOUTH

CHARD 2ND XV 46PTS  SWANAGE AND WAREHAM 0PTS

After a few rusty early season performances Chard played really well against a somewhat ordinary Swanage team and went on to record their biggest win of the season. The Chard front row of Jones Wallis and Hall looked strong and the powerful display of Duffy, Hughes, and Larcombe in the back row helped set up a good platform from which the backs could attack the Swanage defence. No one took more advantage of this than scrumhalf Nicholls who excelled throughout. He helped himself to two tries and also kicked 5 conversions for a personal tally of 20 pts. Hughes,  Duffy,  Wallis and flyhalf Mckerrow also went over for tries. The experienced Mckerrow kept the back division moving well and Chard were also indebted to 2nd row forwards Jon King and Jamie Adams who won a lot of clean lineout ball. Chard completed the rout with two penalties from skipper Lee Brun.

NEXT SATURDAY THE 2ND XV ARE AWAY AT POOLE IN ANOTHER LEAGUE MATCH

3RD XV

WIVELISCOMBE 3RDXV 31PTS   CHARD 3RD XV 26PTS

Chard were leading this game  by 26pts to 19pts with only a sort time left but a late blast from the home side which saw them score two tries gave them a narrow victory in a game thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. Wiveliscombe had taken an early lead but tries from  Gyles Lock  and two from Wayne Lewis who also converted all three put Chard into strong position. Wivey came back well in this ding dong struggle but Chard went ahead again with a superb individual effort from  Barry Pullen. The home side pulled away to clinch victory in the late stages of the match .

NEXT SATURDAY THE 3RD XV ARE AWAY AT CASTLE CARY