Taunton Warriors 33 Bridgwater and Albion 27

The future looks bright for this Taunton Warriors side and for the club in general.  Half of this eighteen players squad was under20 years of age and considering that only three of the squad were the other side of 30 and the teams average age was 22.5 years of age it shows a bright future for some up and coming talent for the club.

Bridgwater kicked off with the wind behind them and from the start the Warriors went on the attack.  Bridgwater stopped them by conceding penalties and on 7-minutes the Warriors opted for a scrum.  A pickup by number 8 Ollie Barber saw him drive to the line but the referee deemed him to be held up.  Bridgwater gave away their 5^th penalty on the ten-minute mark and from the lineout the blue scrum cap of Tom Bradner could be seen to rise and win the ball. The lineout maul drove to the line soaking in the Bridgwater defence for Ollie Guest to send out a simple pass for Ozzy James to score in the corner and give the Warriors a 5-point lead. Matt Whitlock went close with the kick into the wind but it drifted just wide of the posts.  It was Jay Owens, the Bridgwater centre who scored the next try for Bridgwater from an interception which he converted to give Bridgwater a two-point lead.  Just three minutes later Bridgwater extended that lead with a penalty kick at goal. This gave Bridgwater the impetus and they retained some good possession with their centres running directly at the Warriors centres who were up to the task and if they did break through there was always another line of defence with Ollie Guest pulling off a superb tackle to stop a certain try.  Several times the Warriors moved the ball and with the break on, a dropped pass or knock on stopped progress.  The vagaries of the wind winning the day however on the stroke of half time a grubber kick from Archie Oram-Evenett (OE) was raced on to by Matt Whitlock on the halfway line to score the try which he converted.  This gave the Warriors a halftime lead of 12-points to 10.

Just three minutes into the second half and Ali Metson, the Warriors number ten, showed real maturity in the delaying of his pass to Ben Heath who was travelling at pace on an outside arc.  This took Ben through the centre and with one man to beat Ben timed a perfect pass to Matt Whitlock who scored the try which he converted.  A nine-point lead and just three-minutes later from some great forward momentum and recycling Archie OE was able to go over in the right-hand corner.  With the kick on the touchline, it seemed unbelievable that Matt would make the conversion but through the middle of the posts it went.  There was thirty-four minutes left and if the Warriors kept up this sort of pressure there should be more points and they did attack but Bridgwater used all of their guile and experience and managed to get the Warriors to concede eight penalties, many for not releasing the ball in the tackle or offside.  On 60-minutes the Warriors adjudged to be offside, Bridgwater kick to touch, win the lineout, and maul to the line, score the try, which is converted, back to a nine-point lead for the Warriors.  Just four-minutes later and a very clever try with Ali seeing the rush defence from Bridgwater he dropped a lovely little kick over the top, Bridgwater knocked on in their efforts to gather and Oscar James who had followed up was able to pick up the ball and score the try which Matt converted.  Almost from the restart the Warriors gave away a penalty and from the driving maul from the lineout Bridgwater scored the try.  With just two-minutes of the game left and from another Warriors conceded penalty we saw perhaps the most popular try of the afternoon scored by Karolas Urbanas the Bridgwater prop.  He had basically kept Bridgwater in the game with the largest amount of carries for them and the most tackles.

The Warriors always look for the positives in the game.  Harvey Haney a prop who is just eighteen and comes from Sidmouth, when asked why he is playing here he stated that you get a lot better coaching and because he has so much to learn from Isaac.  George Francis another prop aged just nineteen and Ben Dodd just 21 in his first game as prop having changed position from second row and number 8.  There comments are more opportunity to learn the job.  Jack Burnett in the backrow just out of colts must be credited with some of his support play and tackling and as his experience grows so will he be one of our best prospects.  Archie OE to tackle Bridgwater centres running directly at him and weighing a good 16 stone took and takes a lot of courage but he also showed his pace when running against them.  The pace of Matt Whitlock and his kicking ability is a real talent and this coupled with the pace and determination of Hurley Jackson who is at Hartpury all week coming back for Saturday games shows our young talent. But a big thanks must go to Charlie Tribble and Alex Spurdle for looking after our young front row players and Oscar James on the wing who with Ben Heath helped by talking to our youngsters keep their shape.  Our last youngster was Ali Metson who for just 18 years of age showed real maturity in controlling the game.  He was well served by another nineteen years old Ollie Guest.

The game saw some very astute mature players from Bridgwater constantly using their guile to try to influence the referee.  He did in the end get fed up with it and gave one of them a yellow card. The Warriors captain Ollie Wrelton is much more subtle and uses his politeness to ask the question rather than remonstrate.  It is that same manner which helps with managing the side on the pitch.

There is a two-week break for The Warriors although some of the other teams in the league will be playing in the Community Cup.  As the 2^ndteam of a National League side, The Warriors are precluded from this cup.  The next game is away at Gordano on October 4^th.

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