Sidmouth 31 - Crediton 52

A TEAM that manages five tries in a home game would not normally expect to be on the wrong end of the scoreline, which is precisely what happened at Sidmouth on Saturday, March 4.

The fact that Crediton went there minus a few of their regular First XV starters, notably in the forwards, this was an extremely impressive result and the players who filled in did exceptional jobs showing that Crediton does have strength in depth in most positions.

Tries from Freddie Borthen and Josh Hall put Crediton 10-0 ahead within the opening seven minutes and by the half-hour had earned the bonus point with two Chris Courtier tries, both converted by Ollie Avery-Wright, before the home side struck back with a converted try of their own.

A try from Dan Lee converted by Ollie Avery-Wright took Crediton to the interval 31-7 ahead.

The second half began in similar fashion to the first, Ollie Avery-Wright with a try and conversion.

It was the turn of Sidmouth to rally and two tries in the space of five minutes had the home support anticipating a major comeback, the revival though was short lived when hooker, Dan Yendell went over for try number seven, converted by Ollie Avery-Wright.

Once again it was the home side who kept pegging away and scored two more tries, one of which was converted, and brought them within 14 points.

However, the final word went to Devon Hosegood with Crediton’s eighth try, converted again by Ollie Avery-Wright to complete the victory.

A good result and tremendous way to bounce back after the disappointing defeat at Chard a week earlier.

With two games remaining in the league, Crediton will finish as runners-up.

The remaining games are at home against Truro on Saturday, March 11 and away at North Petherton on Saturday, March 18.

The game against Truro is sponsored by the Crediton RFC Former Players and if there are any that have not booked their place, it is not too late to do so.

Crediton Quins 31 -

Sidmouth Seconds 5

The Quins kept up the pressure on league leaders OPM with another try bonus point win against Sidmouth Seconds.

For the sixth time this season, OPM were given a walkover by opponents failing to fulfil the fixture, this time it was Cullompton who were unable to raise a Second XV.

Whilst there is no doubt OPM would prefer to have the fixtures and of course no blame can be attached to them, after all it is lost revenue for them as a Club which is simply not fair.

However, from Crediton’s perspective, OPM has been gifted 30 of their 73 points whilst Crediton had to work for every one of their 70 points.

It is a shame that Clubs seem to want to take what is in effect the easy option and pull out of fixtures especially if it involves travelling.

Against Sidmouth, a number of regular Third XV players were called into action as stand-ins for players that had moved up to the First XV and they all fulfilled their roles in seamless fashion.

Territorially, Crediton dominated for much of the game and their defence was excellent as Sidmouth were denied opportunities to even create scoring chances.

Crediton were on the scoreboard as early as the fourth minute when awarded a penalty 10 metres out, having opted to take a scrum, it was No 8 Chris Hopper who picked up and went through a couple of tackles to touch down.

Tom Ronchetti added the extras for a 7-0 lead.

Seven minutes later, the lead was doubled when the ball went through several pairs of hands and it was centre, Tom O’Donnell who darted through a gap and his strength and pace was too much for the Sidmouth defence.

Ronchetti slotted the conversion.

For a time Crediton players seemed to take their foot off the pedal and Sidmouth managed to get themselves into the game and prevent what looked like being a try fest.

Eventually, on the half-hour, it was centre, Bobby Saunders who weaved his way over after a good build up through several phases and some really good handling.

The consistent boot of Tom Ronchetti made up the additional seven points for a 21-0 lead.

To their credit, Sidmouth rallied and for the first time put some pressure on the Crediton line and earned themselves a penalty, which was kicked to the corner.

The resulting lineout set up a driving maul ending with a try, the conversion missed its mark and Crediton reached the interval with a 21-5 lead.

The second half certainly saw the visitors as more of an attacking force but seldom made much headway.

On the hour, their pressure did bring about a penalty inside Crediton’s “22” and the quick “tap and go” backfired on them when scrum-half Fenton Davies intercepted a pass and went the length of the pitch to score, the conversion from Ronchetti drifted wide.

With time running out, a scrum 10 metres out, and a break down the blind side put Rob Milton in for his first try since returning to playing after a four-year break.

A good all-round performance from the team and with one league game remaining, at home against Tiverton on Saturday, March 11 - note the early kick-off time of 12-45pm.

There is still all to play for and the reality is that for the Quins to gain promotion, they need Exeter Athletic to beat OPM and at the same time prevent them from gaining a bonus point, whilst Crediton need at least a win against Tivvy and preferably with a bonus point.

Exeter Engineers 65 -
 Crediton Thirds 0

The scoreline does not really reflect the full story of this game especially as the dearth of front row forwards available this weekend meant that Crediton had to play with non-contested scrums.

Scrummaging would have been Crediton’s main advantage over the Engineers but of course that was negated and with their pacy three-quarters we were always up against it.

By half-time Crediton were 39-0 down although the players had played their hearts out and defended as best they could, there was simply no answer to the students speed.

Fortunately, this game provided an opportunity for some second-year Colts and their arrival after the interval was almost manna from heaven and, whist the outcome was not altered, these young players stepped up to the mark and Crediton had a much better second half.

This would not have been an easy induction into senior rugby but these lads were not overawed by the situation or the opposition and, whilst Crediton did not trouble the scoreboard, they made much more of a game of it.

Ollie Hills, Marshall Street, Josh Edwards, Ben Baxter and James Dodge proved that their time coming through the Juniors has been well spent and hopefully they will be a big part of the future at Crediton RFC in the years to come.

The Thirds travel to Tiverton tomorrow (Friday, March 10) for an evening game under the lights with kick-off at 7-30pm - why not pop over and give them some support?

Paul Harris