Western Counties (West)

Chard 55, Wiveliscombe 22

After two narrow defeats against Wellington and Bideford, Chard scored nine tries in this big win against newly-promoted Wiveliscombe, writes Glyn Hughes.

Another large crowd of 300+ enjoyed an excellent performance by Chard, captained on the day by Gabriel Riley, who was making his last appearance for some time as he is off to Australia.

Chard were on top from the off and hooker Ben Robinson forced his way over for an unconverted try in the opening minutes.

Some lovely play by the home side followed and Charlie Roberts was on hand to cross for try number two, converted by Niall Crouch.

Virtually straight from the re-start, Chard turned over the ball and their impressive scrum half Ross Colenso made a good break down the right flank to score try number three, again converted by Crouch.

With play still in the first quarter, fly-half Ben Thomas added another try to guarantee Chard a bonus point and with Crouch converting, Chard appeared to have an unassailable lead of 26-0.

Chard winger Huw Edwards has a good turn of speed and demonstrated this when he went over for try number five, which put the game out of sight for the visitors.

Wivey put together an immediate response and, with the final play of the half, they kicked to the corner and followed this up with an excellent catch and drive move from the lineout and number eight Dan Smythe-Moore went over in the corner.

Chard got a little complacent at the start of the second half and, with Wivey having really upped their game, Chard found themselves on the back foot and it was no surprise when Jake Sharland went over for Wivey’s second try.

Chard pulled their socks up again and Colenso got his second try of the match.

The game was now very even indeed and the visitors got their third try when George Rowe squeezed over in the corner for a try converted by Dan Quick to take the score to 36-17.

There was again an immediate reaction from the home players and following some good forward play the referee awarded Chard a penalty try .

With Chard winning comfortably, the one thing they did not want was to give the opposition a bonus point but this is exactly what happened when the impressive Sharland got his second and his team's fourth try .

Chard were totally on top for the rest of the game and in the final ten minutes centre Billy Brooks got the try his all-round play deserved when he delightfully finished off a move to score under the posts.

Joe Mainwaring, on as a replacement, scored the final try with a last-minute effort.

Generally a pleasing performance by Chard but they should be really annoyed at conceding four tries which proved yet again at this level you can not switch off and get complacent.

Next Saturday Chard are again at home with a game against Cullompton, who were relegated from South West One at the end of last season.

Continued support would be greatly appreciated and the game kicks off at 3pm.

Chard 2nds won comfortably enough at Wyvern on Saturday, 27-10, and next week are at home to Burnham.

Chard 3rd XV had a walkover against Wincanton who were unable to raise a team.

The 3rds do not as yet have a fixture next Saturday