Tribute Somerset Premier: Chard 13, Minehead Barbarians 13

WITH a few enforced changes due to injury and a tactical switch in the back division, Minehead took a while to settle and Chard exerted all the early pressure.

Minehead were eventually penalised for killing the ball and Chard took a successful shot at goal for a 3-0 lead.

Chard continued to have the best of the exchanges until a trade mark Scott Langdon burst from halfway was stopped just 10 metres short. This time, Chard were forced to give away the penalty and although the kick was unsuccessful Minehead began to grow in confidence and got right back in the game.

Left wing Olly Thomas also had one good run and Jarrod Nyssen’s line kicking kept Minehead on the offensive, enabling them to put together a series of entertaining phases from one of which the tactical change of moving Jack Claydon to centre proved inspirational.

Well-timed passes from Nyssen and Sam Lewis gave Claydon the chance to stand up his marker on half way, side-step the cover and mesmerise the full-back to score under the posts. Nyssen converted for a 7-3 lead.

Tom Bishop began to show prominently from full-back but Chard renewed their forward effort and were rewarded with a pushover try following a knock-on in the line-out, this was converted to put them back in front at 10-7.

Minehead now knuckled down to the hard graft. Props James Baker and Martin Cherry were benefiting from the added power provided by the welcome return of Ross Cox at lock to give Richard Henson, Scott Langdon and skipper Justin Harris a solid platform from which to take on the impressive Chard back row.

Hooker Keiran Straker was finding Minehead’s outstanding forward Dave Webber in a vastly-improved line-out performance. This pressure led to another Nyssen penalty to level the scores at half-time.

Minehead made a good start to the second half, a move featuring Claydon, Bohun and Bishop took play up to the corner, scrum-half Martin Cook broke from the line-out and Chard were forced to concede another penalty, again well struck by Nyssen to put the Barbarians back in front at 13-10 and this was how the score stood until deep into injury time. The Chard back row were taking advantage of the slope to set up drive after drive down the blind side, stretching the Minehead defence to the limit including one memorable tackle by Tom Bishop.

Rob Webber and Keiran Roberts joined the fray and it began to look as though Minehead would hold out for the win but Chard threw everything in and, with less than a minute to play, were awarded a kick in front of the post which they gladly accepted to settle for a draw.

A greatly-improved forward performance and the promise of more to come from the young guns in the threes were just reward for Minehead’s hard-working coaches Andy Stevens and Dave Hurley.

Minehead: T Bishop, M Bohun, J Claydon, S Lewis, O Thomas, J Nyssen, M Cook, J Baker, K Straker, M Cherry, D Webber R Cox, J Harris (Capt), R Henson, S Langdon. Rep R Webber, G Collins, K Roberts.