West Bridgford travelled away to face local rivals Loughborough RFC. After the Christmas break it was always going to take a while to blow the cobwebs out. Head coach, Gareth Kerr, made it clear to the team that this was going to be a very tough game as Loughborough, even though in the lower part of the table, had a positive points differential.

Bridgford started with the wind, however, they were very quickly under pressure for the first 5 minutes. Sustained attacks from Loughborough followed, but strong defence meant that no points were forthcoming. A great turn over from Luke Brown, meant that the Bridgford no 10, Danny Graney, was able to clear his lines and push Bridgford down into the Loughborough half. Minutes later Loughborough conceded a penalty in their 22. Graney stepped up and kicked the first points of the game. 0 - 3.

Following the re start, Loughborough continued how they had started and wave after wave of attack resulted in 10 minutes of possession. Handling errors were common with the greasy and muddy conditions which resulted in scrum after scrum. Loughborough at this stage, were fairly dominant at this set piece and penalties were forthcoming. Loughborough elected to re scrum and eventually they crossed the line to take the lead. The conversion was missed. 5 - 3.

The try seemed to kick start Bridgford and phases of play started to take shape. Territory had now shifted into the Loughborough half and following continued pressure, Bridgford were awarded another penalty in kickable range. Graney added another 3pts to take the score to 5 - 6.

Five minutes later, Bridgford scored their first try of the game with a well worked passage of play. Following 5 phases a flooded left hand side created a 5 on 2 that allowed Gareth Kerr to pick a line to finish in the left hand corner. The conversion was missed. 5 - 11. This remained the score at half time.

Bridgford turned round with the wind in their faces and knew they had a battle on. On the 50 minute mark, Loughborough scored on the right hand side after a strong scrummage and the Bridgford no 4, Josh Pearson received a yellow yard for straying off side. Conversion missed. 10 - 11.

With Bridgford down to 14 and reorganisation in the pack, they appeared to step up and pushed hard into the Loughborough 22. Bridgford drove hard from a line out for hooker Sam Bignall to score in the right hand corner. Conversion missed took the score to 10 - 16.

The game continued on a fairly even basis, but the strong defensive line of Bridgford, looked unlikely to concede any more points. It was Bridgford to score in the last five minutes through another strong drive from the pack, resulting in prop Josh Salathiel crossing the line. Conversion was added by Graney to take the score to 10 : 23.

The final whistle followed shortly with the final score standing at Loughborough 10 : West Bridgford 23.

Bridgford continue their campaign next week when they welcome Bakewell Mannerians RFC to The Memorial Ground. Kick off 2:15, all supporters are welcome.