CHARD RUGBY REPORT
FOR
SATURDAY 24TH NOVEMBER 2007
BY GLYN HUGHES

SOMERSET PREMIER LEAGUE  CHARD 15PTS  STOTHERT & PITT 14PTS

Bath side Stothert & Pitt came into this game on the back of a fine win against Wells and were clearly a much better side than suggested by their current league position.
Chard did start very strongly and took the lead in less than a minute. From the kickoff they regained possession and their powerful forwards drove the visitors back to the try line and winger Ben King seized the opportunity to join the pack and he got the touchdown for what would turn out to be the first of three unconverted tries for the home side.
The visitors reduced the deficit after five minutes when Chard were caught offside in front of their own posts and Liam Crooks slotted over the resultant penalty goal.
Chard were having much of the early play and could and probably should have scored two more tries in the opening quarter. A good break by Jon Scott ended with Ben Stead being stopped close to the line and then a break by Jon Hendy came to nothing when the final pass went to ground when a try looked certain. Following these let offs Sothert came back well and  Crooks hit the bar with a penalty kick before eventually putting his side in front after thirty minutes when he  made Chard pay for an infringement in front of their posts.
Chard were winning all their own  lineouts and most of the oppositions but were finding the set scrums a real handful. It would be easy to just blame the front row for this but it certainly did not look as if the back five in the set piece were doing their job and were more intent on breaking off as quickly as they could rather than getting down to the hard graft of winning their own ball. The contrast in the lineouts and resultant mauls was remarkable because here the whole pack worked well together and Stothert were no match for them. It was from one of these lineouts that Chard drove forward superbly and Hendy went over in the corner after 38minutes play to score Chards second try which gave them a 10-6 interval lead.
Crooks missed a penalty in the opening minutes of the second half and for the first ten minutes  of the half Chard were not playing too well which was caused by some poor decision making and the enthusiastic and sound sensible play  of their opponents.
However any lineout close to the Stothert line would cause them a problem and this proved to be the case when Hendy was credited with his second try following a carbon copy of his opening effort when he took full advantage of more great ball from skipper Jim Wagstaff.
Having consolidated their advantage Chard then gave away a penalty straight from the kickoff and Crooks pulled his side back to within a converted try of taking the lead.
Chard were getting somewhat casual in defence and having failed to make touch they then were unable to deal   effectively with a difficult bouncing ball and Crooks made the most of the hesitancy to score an opportunist try in the corner. Fortunately for the home side  he could not convert the try and Chard held on for another home win.
Not the best performance from Chard but they deserved to win because they scored three tries to Stotherts one and once again did enough to get a result.

SOMERESET 3 SOUTH     NORTH PETHERTON 24PTS CHARD  19PTS
Chard were losing 17 nil at half time but tries from Robin (Bushy) Singleton  and Chris Burbridge both converted by Wallis John got Chard right back into the game. They were then caught out when Petherton scored a breakaway try against the run of play before Richard Jones replied with a fine try for Chard but unfortunately they  could not get the additional score their efforts deserved and Petherton hung on for a slender victory.

DORSET AND WILTS DIVISION 2 SOUTH  SALISBURY 80PTS CHARD 0PTS
With a player not arriving on time Chard travelled with only 14 players and were in real trouble in no time when they lost a further two players to injury. Despite having several spare players the home side were not as charitable as Chard had been to other sides in recent weeks and refused to allow them to play for the visitors. Now playing with just 12 players Chard were no match for their hosts and despite great efforts by everybody fell to a heavy defeat. They returned to Chard in good spirit however and are looking forward to playing Salisbury at home  later in the season with a full side.

Next week Chard are away to Wells in the Somerset premier league and to Tor in  Somerset 3 south  The only home match is a Dorset and wilts 2 south game against Swanage and Wareham ko 2.30 on the main pitch.