Chard ladies were 17-5 winners when they entertained Crediton ladies in what was a pulsating and physical match contested by two extremely committed teams.

Chard began well and the home forwards dominated the early scrums and close quarter battles.

Surges from the side of rucks by Beth Kelly, Mel Banfield and Jo Truscott saw Chard gradually gain ground despite hard tackling by the visitors.

A clearance kick was gathered by Jade Mowlam, who charged back but was tackled just short of the line.

The resulting scrum was won against the head by forward of the match Zanna Wilton, and when Chelsea Bale picked up she powered her way towards the line where Emma Harris was on hand to take the ball from her hand to dive over to claim the try.

For the rest of the half both sides battled for dominance, with Crediton controlling the lineout. The visiting backs attacked at every opportunity, but fantastic covering tackling by Jodie Louise and Chelsea Bale stopped them in their tracks.

After a series of plashes [Steve: is plashes a word] from the Chard forwards, the ball released to the backs and Jade Mowlem crossed for the try with Georgia Adams converting from a difficult angle to send Chard into the interval with a 12-0 advantage.

After the break, the play became even more physical than it had been in the first half!

In attack, many breaks by Beth Kelly, Megan Armstrong, who was named back of the match in her first outing at fly half, and Sarah Kneeshaw, saw dents being made in the Crediton defence, only for brave tackling to halt them.

Crediton were also very dangerous in attack but were denied by try-saving tackles from Georgia Adams and twice by Kerry Harris.

However, the star in the Chard defence and also the Player of the Match award winner, was Sarah Kneeshaw, who made a series of bone-crunching tackles.

As the game moved towards a close, once again Chard dominated and a sharp back move saw Kelly Stamp dive over only to lose the ball as she tried to place it after being hit with a defensive tackle.

The resulting scrum saw Jade Watts stealing the ball from the base of the opposition scrum to score.

With the last move of the match the Crediton fly half finally broke through to score a well-deserved try, but Chard ladies were not to be denied a terrific 17-5 success.

This was a great performance and a great send-off for inspirational scrum half and captain Jade Watts.