Chard 2nd XV were beaten 46-12 when they hosted Yeovil 2nds in a Somerset Two (South) league encounter, writes Gavin Smillie.

With the main pitch deemed unplayable this game was played on the Crewkerne road pitches in front of a surprisingly large and vocal crowd that must’ve come for the rugby as there is no bar at the venue!

Chard opted to run up the hill into the sun in the first half and started brightly with Yeovil holding on to position, but the home side, on the whole, defending well. However, an early infringement on the floor by the Chard prop gave the visitors a penalty kick that was tucked away with ease. Soon after, another silly mistake gifted the visitors a second penalty kick, not so straightforward, but one that was slotted to put Yeovil into a 6-0 lead.

There was more pain to follow for the home side as another mistake, this time for not binding in the scrum and a quick penalty turned into a converted try and a visiting lead of 13-0.

Chard seemed to get there act together and started to make progress in the oppositions half, but again they were punished with Yeovil scoring two more converted tries for them to troop off at the break with a 27-0 advantage.

Chard began the second half with the benefit of the hill and they looked a very different side, putting phases of play together and were rewarded with an early try.

A terrific run from Nathan Clapp opened things up and Nick Coombs went over for a try. However, rather than it being the start of a dramatic comeback, Yeovil were soon back on the front foot, running in three tries to take the game well away from the home side.

Chard never gave up and Benn Mainwaring was the architect of a second home try as his run took him to within a yard of the line and drawing the defence in to create sufficient room for the ball to moved out wide where a combination of Steve Long and Dave Tucker saw a pushover try.

That proved to be the final score of the match with the honours going to the visitors. A huge positive for Chard IIs captain Brian Sugar was that 20 players made themselves available for the game which offered the skipper good options and also something to work with for this Saturday’s rearranged fixture away at Winscombe.

Chard team: Arron Lewis, Nathan Clapp, Gavin Smillie, Steve Long, Brian Sugar (c) Eric Singleton, Jordon Beale, Josh Moore, Nicholas Coombs, Ieuan Watkins, Gavin Watts, Michael Farting, Jim Grossey, Phil Goodridge, Reynolds, Chris Doel, Chester Maglo, Noah Carnell, Andrew Mckerrow, David Tucker, Benn Mainwaring, Keith Milton.