CHARD 12-29 TRURO

This game was played in very wet and windy conditions, but the pitch was in remarkably good condition and credit goes to all those who have made it into such a good surface, writes Glyn Hughes.

Chard went into the game with high hopes of getting a good result, but they were immediately under pressure when they failed to deal properly with the kickoff and lost possession in their own 22area. A series of scrums followed and visiting prop Oliver Seagrove eventually crossed for an unconverted try. What a disastrous start!

Chard were under the cosh for the first ten minutes or so but some powerful play from the forwards drove Truro back into their own 22 area and Matt Tinley who always plays his heart out was able to force his way over for a fine try which was converted by Rhys Peters to edge Chard ahead. 7-5

Chard were not making things easy for themselves by once again giving far too many penalties away especially at the breakdown whether in attack or defensive situations and these basic errors presented Truro with opportunities to score a converted try and a penalty to lead by 7-15 at the break.

Chard had certainly shown enough in the first half with Jack Elliot, Joe Mainwaring, Dave Morton and Max Gosden prominent to suggest that they were still well in the game, but they would need to get the basics right if they were to turn things round.

Sadly, despite some good rugby at times they were guilty of kicking poorly for both touch and field position and continued to give away penalty after penalty which directly allowed Truro to score two more tries with both Jack Tidball and Lewis Richards crossing the line. They were not helped either by an unfortunate injury to the influential Elliot who had to leave the field with an injured ankle.

The scrums also had to go uncontested for the final quarter because Truro ran out of suitable replacements, thus depriving Chard of one of their strongest suits at a time they needed it most.

Chard did have the final say though when they put together a fine move in the last few minutes which allowed Huw Edwards to score an unconverted try in the right-hand corner which illustrated what they can do when they get things right.

A disappointing result but there was certainly not a lot if anything between the sides, but Chard just has to improve the basics to get a result in this type of game.

However once again the effort and commitment of the players could not be faulted.

Let’s hope the lessons have been learnt by the time they play away at Bridgwater next Friday evening with the game kicking off at 7 30pm.