Bridgnorth 13 Old Saltleians 33
BRiDGNORTH RFC firsts lost a competitive match on Saturday against a good Old Saltleians side, but while the score reflected a good win for the visitors, it did not represent all that is currently happening behind the scenes.
Bridgnorth’s new coach Richard Wood is carefully blooding several young players for next year’s campaign, whilst still putting out a competitive team each week.
Young colt Adam Stirling was introduced at prop for his first team debut, and the young prospect did so well he was unanimously awarded Tanners man of the match for his gritty initial performance.
Young flanker Corey Barlow also showed some glimpses of real potential at number six, with his eagerness to get to the breakdown and general aggressive play.
The backs also looked slightly more balanced, with Matt Farrington showing glimpses of class at fly half, and this was followed by the astute Danny Markevics taking over from him in the second half to initiate some great moves after Farrington retired with a slight facial injury.
Centre Jimmy Gore is also slowly growing into the role of centre, but now needs the destructive tackling centre Paul Markevics at his side in order for the midfield to function properly, and so distribute the ball to create try scoring opportunities for the likes of Preece, Cooper and the barnstorming Wilde, among others on the wing.
Although the front row is still essentially still work in progress, the second row of James Chattoe and John Watson continued to look very solid. The back row still continue to look very lightweight, with grafter Liam Holland only introduced late in the second half, and only then as a prop forward.
There is really no excuse for this side not to improve, as Bridgnorth now have an ambitious top line coach in Wood, and these young players will only get better under his tutelage by training on Tuesdays and Thursday evenings.
Old Saltleians opened the scoring with a good converted try after pressurising the home side into a mistake, and they soon swept down the field to score an easy looking try. Although Bridgnorth came back with a well taken penalty from Farrington, they went further behind when Old Salts scored again.
After this setback, there was a fight back from Bridgnorth, and when Danny Griffiths scored a really great pushover try, the game opened up at 8-12 on the stroke of half time.
Bridgnorth opened the second half by pressing the Old Satleians line, and, against the general run of play Saltleians scored another try under the posts, which swung the game into the visitors’ favour.
Saltley then scored another two tries, both of which were converted, which were really a result of their teamwork, skill and close support play up the middle of the park.
The Saltley backline passed and lined up correctly in attack and defence, and supported the ball well in pressure situations.
Bridgnorth, to their credit, scored a great final try with Gore distributing the ball well from both sides out of either hand to put Paul Markevics over in the corner for an unconverted try.
Bridgnorth must now all train together regularly to take full advantage of what could be quite an exciting end to this season’s programme.
Tomorrow’s re arranged home match against Aston Old Edwardians should be a challenge, and after this week’s performance the side has plenty to work on in the quest for perfection.
