CHARD RUGBY REPORT

SENIOR VASE

CHARD 39PTS WEYMOUTH 19PTS

Chard opened their season with a comfortable but rather laboured win against a keen and enthusiastic Weymouth side.

The game was played in hot conditions on a firm but well grassed pitch.

The opening minutes were evenly contested but Chard went into the lead after eight minutes when Paul Nicholls successfully converted a penalty goal after the Weymouth back division were caught offside. Chard began to look the stronger side but they had a shock after fifteen minutes when a poor kick to touch and some equally poor tackling was punished .Fly half Lees failed to find touch and Weymouth counter attacked well from just inside their own half and some good interplay was aided by some missed tackles and centre Will Hughes capitalised and went over for a try under the posts which was successfully converted by Ryan Llewellyn .

Chard had several opportunities to reduce the arrears with kickable penalties goals but preferred to try and go for a touchdown instead. After a couple of missed opportunities the pressure told on Weymouth and the well drilled Chard pack drove over for two tries with the scores coming from Alan Henley and Mark Parsons. Nicholls added one conversion and Chard were well worth their 15-7 advantage. Giles Lock who was replacing the honeymooning Jon Hendy at hooker was having a useful game and was unlucky to have a try disallowed when the referee apparently saw some illegal blocking. Chard were not to be denied however and the backs set up a delightful try for fullback Ben Stead who carved his way through the visitors defence to score Chards third try of the half. Following good work by Lees and Twigg. Nicholls added the extra points and Chard reached the interval with a commanding 22-7 lead.

Chard started the second half in fine style and strong running centre Matt Ousley raced over for Chards fourth try after only 50secs play. Nicholls again converted from wide out and showed the value to a side of having a consistent goal kicker. It appeared the game was over as a contest but to be fair to Weymouth they battled hard and gave as good as they got for the next 20 minutes and got themselves back into the contest with two unexpected but deserved scores. Firstly they scored a typically Chard try when they drove over from a lineout and No 8 Tony Worle got the touch down and this was followed by a try from their very large prop forward Tim Comben who crashed over from a few metres out. Nathan Walmsley added the points and suddenly Chard only led by 29-19. Chard had bt this time brought on the four allowable replacements and they now turned on the style again and increased their advantage with a penalty from the reliable boot of Nicholls. Almost immediately Chard scored their fifth try of the game when skipper Jim Wagstaff took a penalty very quickly and went over in the right hand corner with Nicholls adding the conversion points.

This was a comfortable win for Chard but it was typically early season stuff and there is still a lot for coach Steve Broome to work on. Mark Parsons, Nicholls, Stead, Lock and Johnny Porter had particularly good games and the club look forward to their first league outing next week at home to Bath side Avon kick off 3pm.

The 2nds travel to Wimborne and the thirds travel to Burnham also with 3pm kickoffs.