Scrum domination sets up Chew for emphatic victory
Oakhampton 0 Chew Valley 27
A FIRST visit to The Showground for Chew Valley. The weather looked grim on the way down the M5 but the rain eased to a fine drizzle for kick-off.
There were early handling errors, but the Chew Valley pack started well in the scrum and dominated throughout.
While Okehampton had plenty of the ball, and centre Richie Friend was a real threat, it was defensive organisation which proved key, as Ross Harding and Jake Rogers, in paarticular, forced errors and the home attack ran out of ideas.
Full-back Tom Bryan converted a penalty on seven minutes. Further pressure at scrum time led to a penalty on halfway but the ball went dead.
In an error-strewn start from both sides, Chew Valley couldn’t win a line-out, but with a three-man option on halfway the ball went wide and Joe Webb, off his opposite wing, scored on 22 minutes.
A scrum off a penalty on 26 minutes, when a shot at goal was an option, saw centre Charles Shallcross go close but the ball was spilled.
Another penalty option taken as a scrum was swiftly followed by a second, and after strong carries from second row Marc Daly and prop Dean Brooker, Bryan found a gap to score out wide, and it was 13-0 at the break.
The second half started with the visitors dominant at the scrum but still struggling in the line-out.
From another scrum five metres out, and with penalty advantage, scrum-half Peter Carter dummied and wriggled over for a try on 50 minutes, which Bryan converted.
An error from the restart gave Okes a chance but the ball was spiiled at the line-out.
A mounting penalty count against the hosts eventually led to a card for the prop replacement on 55 minutes. Running out of defence from a holding-on penalty against skipper Dan Gatton, Okes were eventually halted on the opposition 22.
With 10 minutes to go, the referee lost patience and two wings went following a dust-up. With Gatton off for a blood injury, Miles Moorhouse moved to 10 and his boot put the visitors back into the red zone.
A series of scrums on the home five-metre line came to nothing as Chew pressed for the try bonus point.
With time nearly up, the bonus point came as the penalty count mounted and from a line-out drive replacement second row Ali Russell scored a try, which Bryan converted.
Five points on the road for Chew was not to be sniffed at, but there was not the fluidity the supporters have become used to, having been spoiled by games on firm pitches.