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Chard Ladies 42, Bath Ladies 2nds 0

ON Sunday, April 30 Chard hosted Bath Ladies 2nd team, in what turned out to be an excellent finale to the season, writes Dave Webb.

Chard started strongly, and after putting pressure on the Bath line Georgia Adams forced an error from the defence and pounced on the ball to score her first ever try.

From the resulting kick-off Bath immediately attacked the Chard line and broke through, only for Sasha White to produce a try-saving tackle five metres from the line.

Chard turned the ball over and cleared the danger.

In a hard-fought first half, Chard dominated possession, with powerful surges through midfield by the forwards that released the backs, Gemma Donovan scoring after 20 minutes.

Bath continued to attack but some hard tackling, headed by captain Laura Jenkins and Naomi Hopkins, kept the score at 10-0 to Chard at half time.

After sustained pressure early in the second half White crashed through the tough Bath defence to take the lead to 15-0.

For the rest of the second half Chard dominated, and despite an incredible defensive effort by the young Bath side tries came at regular intervals.

Scores from Mel Banfield, Elaine Stanier (2), Claudine Farmer and Joe Truscott, with one conversion by Farmer of her own try, took Chard to an impressive 42-0 victory.

Nonetheless, the scoreline did not reflect the fantastic performance of the Bath side, especially in defence, as every Chard try was hard-earned, with all following many phases of play that did credit to both sides’ skill level and commitment.

On the Bath side, much credit should be given to stand-in captain Harriet Rose, who ensured that Bath Ladies’ spirits and effort did not falter during the 80 minutes.

Great credit should also be given to their coaches for a side that came to play good rugby and did not give up.

As for Chard, back of the match was Sasha White, top forward was Mel Banfield, and player of the match went to Jade Hayley.

Finally, but most importantly, the match was a culmination of many nights and Sundays of hard work and effort, in often awful conditions.

None of the above would have been possible without the efforts of Matt Bowditch and his team of coaches as well as Mel the physio, Simon for refereeing, Tara as manager and Gary for capturing all the moments during the season on camera.

All should be rightly proud of what they have achieved, and the team are looking forward to next season.