CHARD Rugby Club held its annual players dinner and awards last night, celebrating the players’ achievements and bringing the senior season to a close in style.

Following the meal, head coach Jim Wagstaff reviewed the season before the awards were presented, as follows:

1st XV
Player of the year - Jason Wright; Players’ player - Joe Mainwaring; Coaches’ player - Bill Biss; Most improved player - Ross Collenso; Top try scorer - Joe Mainwaring; Top points scorer - Charlie Roberts; Special award - Paul Wright.

2nd XV
Player of the year - Paul Wright; Players’ player - Archie Bromfield; Most improved - Ieuan Watkins.

3rd XV
Coaches’ player - Eric Singleton; Players’ Player - Keith Milton; Top try scorer - Nathan Clapp.

Colts
Coaches’ Player - Harry Cleal; Most improved player - Kieran Smillie; Players’ player - Arron Lewis.

Ladies
Most improved player - Kirsty Carlos; Coaches’ player - Sarah Kneeshaw; Players’ player - Mel Banfield.

Clubman of the year - Gavin Smillie.

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1st XV review of the season

Having been relegated from South West 1 West at the end of the 2016/17 season, it was important that Chard at the very least consolidated their position in Western Counties West, which everyone knew would be a very competitive league, writes Glyn Hughes.

Trips to five clubs in Cornwall which included the likes of St Ives, St Austell and Truro were never going to be easy, and Devonport Services, Tiverton, Torquay amongst others in Devon would also prove to be an equally tough challenge.

With the previous coaches stepping down from their roles, former skipper Jim Wagstaff took charge of the first team and he did a great job in guiding the team to what in the end was a comfortable mid-table position.

In a nutshell the team had a great start to the season and were very consistent at home up until December and, following a big dip in results in the new year, the team finished strongly with good wins against Sidmouth and Torquay at home and Truro away to finish seventh in the division.

The Chard squad was hit almost as soon as the season began with campaign-ending injuries to Benne Mainwaring, Luke Aplin and Ben Robinson.

This was followed by the departure of scrum-half Ben Johnson for work reasons.

But others came in and took their opportunity, and the likes of Joe Mainwaring and Warren Lewis really benefited from getting a lot of game time.

Availability for some of the long away trips was a problem at times but the spirit in the team could not be faulted.

The forwards had on the whole much more depth than the backs in terms of numbers, but hats off to skipper Ryan Helliar and Billy Biss who did a sterling job when taking on key roles in the backs when asked to do so.

The team could certainly do with adding some players to their squad, particularly in the key positions at half-back, and all clubs need to have a consistent goal kicker in their team.

This was clear when Charlie Roberts missed a number of games in mid-season due to injury.

A club is not surprisingly often judged by the performances and standing of its senior side, and quite rightly so.

Chard put in some superb performances at times and will no doubt be working hard on and off the field to try and do even better next season, with the club hoping to return to South West 1 West sooner rather than later.

Jim Wagstaff will continue at the helm and this can only be a very positive move.