A decent game against a side struggling to stay in league
Saturday, February 20
Crediton 77
Plymstock 3
PLYMSTOCK arrived as firm favourites to finish at the bottom of the league having not won a single game this season and even worse, had points deducted to put them in a minus situation at the foot of the table.
However, the game down there earlier in the season was no easy win for us and indeed no-one has scored more points against us in a league game all season when we won 39-23.
This was a very different story though and from the first minute, when scrum-half Tom Ronchetti landed a penalty, there was only going to be one winner.
Tries, a dozen in all, came at regular intervals throughout the game although it was in the second half when the visitors defence really failed to cope with the onslaught.
On seven minutes flanker, Peter Cann, got the touch down off a driving maul to which Ronchetti added the extras. Five minutes later the visitors were caught in possession and turned over, lock Gav Best made the break before putting centre Mike Pearce in and again Ronchetti slotted the conversion.
On 19 minutes No 8 Jay Harris touched down from a pushover after a scrum five metres out and Ronchetti maintained his 100 per cent record with the conversion.
Plymstock broke into our '22' and were rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts when the Crediton backs were caught offside.
On the half hour, another driving maul brought a second try for Harris which Ronchetti also converted to leave us 31-3 ahead at the interval.
The visitors had had little or no success at the scrum or lineout but did show their mettle in defence for the first half.
Unfortunately it was all down hill for them after the break and it took only two minutes in the second period for the lead to be extended when another driving maul created a platform to put winger Ross Gillon in for a try down the blind side.
The forwards again gained the hard yards before releasing the backs to put Matt Walton in and then a catch and drive off a lineout saw hooker Shane Bayley cross the line.
On the hour, another flowing move saw Walton in for his second with Ronchetti turning it into a seven pointer.
The pack then stole a Plymstock put-in at a scrum 10 metres out and Walton went in to complete his hat-trick and he grabbed his fourth with a powerful run to score under the posts, Ronchetti popped over another conversion.
Best then capitalised on a Plymstock lineout error to go over and the scoring was completed when prop Wayne Reed plunged over after some good handling, Ronchetti landed his seventh conversion of the day.
All in all a decent performance against a side struggling at this level and it was encouraging to see that we can be clinical with our finishing,
The result keeps us in second spot but only just and it was important to rack up some points which could be crucial come the final reckoning.
'Quins
Crediton 'Quins 14
Barnstaple Seconds 7
Another excellent scalp for the seconds, it is not very often that we get a victory over Barum at this level.
The forwards were dominant throughout and despite going seven points down in the first half, the 'Quins had much the better of things in the second half to win with a couple of tries.
COLTS
Crediton Colts 13
Barnstaple Colts 6
The Colts kept their hopes of a Plate semi-final place with an excellent win against a strong Barnstaple side.
Joe Rogers grabbed a try with Ollie Massey-Birch converting and Rob Avery-Wright landing a couple of penalties.
PH
Crediton Youth Rugby
Under 10's
Tavistock 20
Crediton 30
A SUPERB all round performance saw Crediton take the spoils at Tavistock. Niall Davies-Hale kept the back line well organised, putting up good defence and making strong runs along with Travis Baker and Jake Burrow.
Demon tackling from scrum half Conrad Saunders and centre Dan Lyons disrupted Tavi's attack, whilst time and time again Matt Goodman and Barny Ames won turnover ball in the mauls.
Ethan Pearce made huge amounts of ground with his charging runs, with Lewis Terry driving into rucks and securing ball for Crediton in the loose.
Tries came from Terry, Goodman and Lyons with Owen Twigg bagging three with jinking runs through a mesmerised defence.
During a second game Saunders crossed the line and Lewis Terry scored twice more to bring him a hatrick for the day.
South Molton 10
Crediton 50
The under 10's continued with their run of form with a 50-10 win over a spirited South Molton side.
Good rucking and mauling by the likes of Matt Goodman saw Crediton winning turnover ball.
This was well used by the backs who made strong, penetrating, runs into South Molton territory.
Wing for the day, Ben Rodd scored four tries, scrum half Conrad Saunders scored three tries, fly half Owen Twigg scored two and centre Dan Lyons also crossed the line.
South Molton stuck to their task with some good tackling and also scored two tries after moves, which contained some impressive handling.
In a second game, Twigg scored once more along with Travis Baker.
GT
Under 13's
Crediton 55
Tavistock 5
This was the third time that the Under 13's have played Tavistock this season and this was the third resounding win for Crediton.
The game was played at the new Creedy pitch, which had a good covering of grass and allowed for good open rugby and saw the home side run in eight tries for a convincing victory.
The home team totally dominated play for the first quarter and with lots of possession the forwards ran the ball well and set up the backs with a host of scoring opportunities.
This pressure resulted in four well executed tries from Andrew May, Harry Strong, Dan Vanstone and Matt Rendell.
Crediton continued to press and Kieran Vinnicombe extended the lead with a fine run in from the halfway line.
Ollie Down then found himself in space and a fine run and controlled chip over the defenders saw him sprint through to dive on the ball for a fine try.
Some poor discipline from the Crediton team then led to them being penalised and driven back into their own 22 metre area and Tavistock crashed over from a five metre tap penalty move giving a halftime score of 38-5.
With a good lead the Crediton team really opened up and the forwards and backs ran the ball at every opportunity in the second half.
Wing Kieran Vinnincombe added a further two tries and Ollie Avery-Wright slotted over a dropped goal with the last kick of the game. This was a good team performance but it saw good individual performances from Ed Brady at full back and Jamie Mckenzie in the back row.
Tries: Andrew May, Harry Strong, Matt Rendell, Dan Vanstone, Kieran Vinnicombe (3), & Ollie Down
Drop Goal: Ollie Avery - Wright
Conversions: Ollie Avery – Wright (5) Andrew May.
MG
Under 15's
Crediton 22
Tiverton 9
Only the second game since Christmas and this after South Molton had cancelled earlier in the week!
Everyone thought the match was still going to be cancelled because atrocious weather and high winds had been forecast for the Saturday night into Sunday morning.
As it happened this weather passed to the East of the County and the local pitches were declared fit to play.
Kirton were grateful to Tiverton to agreeing to a match at the last minute and were looking forward to getting back onto the pitch!
Crediton played down the slope in the first half and it was immediately clear that the pitch was going to cut up badly.
Both sets of forwards contested the ball very keenly and after 10 minutes, new boy Sam Locke (Lockie to his mates) picked up a loose ball and headed for the try line.
Not long afterwards, another great forwards move resulted in Edward Marshall – having one of his best games of the season – and he went over for another score.
Neither tries were converted so the half time score was 10-0 to the home side.
The second half started again at furious pace with both sides contesting the ball very keenly.
Eventually, however, the deadlock was broken after a great passage of play where the ball passed through most of the players hands, with Julian Dupre running the ball in underneath the posts. The try was converted by Luke Styles.
Crediton dominated both possession and territory in the second half but all credit to Tiverton who never gave up.
There were one or two feisty incidents mid-way through the half and the referee asked the coaches to talk to both sets of players to calm the situation down.
Both sides then got on with the game and it was just before the final whistle that Ben Cullen, in his new role as number 10, used his power to force himself over the visitors' line.
The players came off the pitch knowing that they had committed themselves 100 per cent and were just so glad to be back on the playing field.
The whole squad had good games but Dom Jones and Marcus Williams, in the forwards, played better than they had done for a long time.
The back line was also firing on all cylinders although the muddy conditions under foot were not conducive to open freestyle rugby.
However, it was new boy Sam Locke that was named Man of the Match.
Well done to the whole squad as they look forward to the last couple of months of the season.
DD
Under 16's
Landscape League
(N&W Section)
Crediton 6
Tavistock 5
A much depleted Crediton team took on Tavistock in filthy conditions at Exhibition Fields.
Using the slope, Crediton took the lead with an early penalty from Josh Lee, and soon extended the advantage when a Tavistock player failed to release the ball on the ground.
Again, Lee kicked the points, this time from 40 metres out. However, Credy could not get the crucial try that would cushion their advantage for the second half with Tavistock playing downhill. Callum Allen appeared to touch down, but the referee recalled play for an earlier infringement.
Crediton defended manfully in the second half, especially when losing Lee to a knee injury.
Tavistock went over for a try in the corner with five minutes remaining, but Crediton appeared to be seeing out the remaining time with well over 10 phases of rucking.
However, a penalty was conceded on the final play and it took a crunching tackle from Ben Wonnacott to put the Tavistock player into touch and signal the final whistle.
Credit to both teams for their determination in such appalling conditions.
Devon Junior Cup
Quarter Final
Crediton 5
Exeter Saracens 9
Crediton Under 16's may have won the contest by one try to nil, but it was the penalty count that was crucial in this tight game.
Saracens kicked two first half penalties, one for a debatable call of not releasing the ball and the other for a technical infringement. Their third was for the same reason, giving them a 9-0 lead, but this only served to fire up Crediton, who were well led by Josh Pike.
They immediately scored a try from some destructive phased rucking, with Henry Nuthall setting up Ben Wonnacott for the try.
The back row of Wonnacott, Phillips and Somerwill caused endless problems for Saracens as Credy dominated the latter stages of the game, seeking the crucial winning score, but could not cross the line as handling errors and accidental offsides let them down.
RS