Sedgley Park 23
Plymouth Albion 35

On the day Albion played well in the first half and went into the turn around 11 - 35.  After picking up the bonus point in 37 minutes and Ed Lewsey given a hat trick on his 28th birthday Albion let Park have all the points.

The match started with an overcast sky and a brisk breeze across the pitch.

Albion started well and within 6 minutes after a break in the centre Ed Lewsey takes his first try of the afternoon touching down 15 metres in from the left hand touch line with Regardt van Eyk on kicking duties takes the extras.

17 minutes in and Tim Mathias scores his first try for Albion under the posts after Ed Lewsey had broke the line in the centre.  Regardt again adds the extra 2 points.

Almost before the score could be updated Nic Sestaret made a run down the wing from within his own half to be tackled 10 metres out but passes the ball inside to Regardt to take the ball over the line for his 6th try of the season.

With Albion ahead by 21 points they seem to take their foot off the pedal and give away a penalty in front of the posts which Philip Jones makes no mistake in taking 3 points.

Philip Jones shortly after breaks through in the middle and avoids the tackle attempt by Nat Saumi to add to Sedgley's  score which he fails to convert after the ball rebounds off the left hand post.

Just 4 minutes latter Tim Matias was penalised in front of the posts and Philip again took the points.

Sedgley had been in control of the match for the past 8 minutes and the game came back to Albion after Scott Zimmerman kicked a loose ball out of his half.  Nothing came of this move but Albion were back in control of the game.

As we approached the half time whistle Albion spend time in the Park 22 before Ed Lewsey took the ball off the back of a maul and advantage running drags the ball over the line. No need to say but Regardt adds  the extras. The try bonus point is secured in the 37th minute of the match.#

 The final play of the half Ed Lewsey takes his birthday hat trick off a similar move this time in the corner and bought the half time score to 11-35

Albion were fully in control of the match and thoughts of topping the 55 scored at London Welsh was in the back of my mind.

Half time Albion 35 Philip Jones 11. 

No changes were made to either side but the rain decided that it would make a difference and started to come down at 45 degrees.  Park seemed to cope with the weather better than Albion. They were playing a far better game and whilst Albion were defending well they were not going forward with the ball.

Tom Arscott came on for Wihan Neethling in the 54th minute and showed his speed on the wing but did not make it through to the line.

Regardt did have one attempt at goal with a cross wind and 40 metres from the posts the kick was unsuccessful. 

Albion continued to defend well but made no real progress until in the 67th minute Scott Zimmerman was shown the yellow card for a technical infringement at a ruck.  Almost immediately Park took the advantage and scored two tries in the corner whilst Albion were a man down. One of the tries was converted to bring Park almost back in with a chance of a bonus point.  Once Albion were back to full strength their defence closed and stopped the leakage of points.

With just two minutes left and a high kick from Park, Tom Arscott went up to catch the ball but a Park player collided with him in mid air and Tom fell to the ground.  The touch immediately left his post to check out Tom whilst play continued. After treatment Tom was helped off the pitch with obvious problems to his knee.

If anyone looks at the result at the end of the season then they will think that Albion must have played well, but for the spectator following the match in the rain the first half was great but the second was nothing to write home about.

For Albion to take Pirates for the second time his season they will need to play a full 80 minutes in control of the match.

My man of the match was very easy it was birthday boy himself Ed Lewsey. Whilst most players did have a good game Ed just shined.

Nic Sestaret could have got another two tries and was unlucky not to come away with any points

Regardt had a fantastic day with the boot and got a try handed to him by Nic Sestaret.

Team: Nat Saumi, Wihan Neethling, Regardt van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey, Tim Mathias, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Mike Lewis, Tom Hayes, Federico Genoud, Danny Thomas, Chris Lowrie Replacements: Matt Newman(used), Tom Arscott(used), Arran Cruickshanks(used), Gareth Evans(used), James Owen(used), Dan Smith(used), Brett Stroud(used)

Scorers :- Tries 3x Ed Lewsey Regardt van Eyk Tim Mathias Conversions 5x Regardt van Eyk Sin Bin Scott Zimmerman

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