Teignmouth 19 - Crediton 41

AS a tribute to the late Geoff Warne, Crediton and Teignmouth will play annually for the Geoff Warne Memorial Cup.

Geoff was a former player, captain and coach at Crediton before moving to take a teaching post at Teignmouth where he also coached the Teignmouth Club.

Geoff was a fine player and represented the County on eight occasions scoring three tries. He was a true lover of the rugby and this game was a fine tribute to him, he would have been impressed by the quality of both sides.

We started brightly on February 11 and early pressure paid off after seven minutes when centre Ben Wonnacott ran a superb line to take a pass from scrum half Fenton Davies, the offload to co-centre Ollie Down was perfectly timed and he crashed over for the opening score.

Fly half Ollie Avery-Wright landed the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

The home side responded immediately as we fielded the kick off but a poor return kick gave Teignmouth the opening they wanted and their right winger went over in the corner, the conversion attempt missed.

Teigns then took the lead with pressure on our line and their patience paid off as they went through several phases before scoring close to the posts, the conversion put them 12-7 ahead.

Our response was equally as swift as a penalty to the corner set up a catch and drive which ended with Josh Lee touching down, the conversion struck the post so we were level at 12-12.

Three tries in the space of two minutes and only 10 minutes into the game. We then regained the lead when, from another lineout we set up a maul and then released the ball to the backs where Wonnacott went over, OAW added the extras for a 19-12 lead.

Both sides were certainly entering into the spirit of the occasion much to the joy of both sets of spectators.

Teigns remained determined not to let the game get away from them and once again they levelled things on 36 minutes.

They kept us pinned close to our line and we gave up a couple of penalties and a quick “tap and go” brought the try, the conversion levelled things at 19-19.

Right on half-time we regained the momentum when the home side were penalised for a high tackle and OAW landed the penalty for a 22-19 lead at the interval.

The second half started with us very much on the front foot and a 15 minute period when we more or less took the game away from Teignmouth.

Pressure inevitably brings penalties and we forced the hosts into conceding a few during the early minutes.

No 8 Dan Lee was quick to spot a gap from a quickly taken penalty and he raced through to score.

OAW added the conversion for 29-19.

We continued to dominate and drew more penalties from Teignmouth, a kick to the corner followed by a driving maul ended with flanker Will Crang touching down, OAW again landed the conversion for 36-19 which put us three scores ahead.

As the game entered the final quarter, both sides kept up the pace, Teigns had their moments but were unable to break through as they went in search of a bonus point try to get themselves back into the game.

The final score came from a clever OAW chip over the Teigns defence and Ollie Down was quickest to the ball to grab his second of the day. The conversion drifted wide but the game was beyond the reach of the home side.

The final 10 minutes were spent very much on the defensive as Teignmouth battered our line but time after time the tackles went in and the bonus point try eluded them through to the final whistle.

Teignmouth had been on a run of good form in recent weeks and have had close games against most of the sides above them including a single point victory at Sidmouth the previous week.

They were certainly on a high and had real expectations of a victory in this game. This was though an all-round quality performance from the Firsts, looking sharp in attack and resolute in defence with some really good individual performances.

It is probably unfair to mention individuals because everyone played so well, however, Fenton Davies at scrum half had a fine game as did wing forward Will Crang and lock Matt Arnold.

The backs generally looked sharp and the handling was excellent. Yes every player can be extremely proud of their performance against a side that has been improving week-on-week and had moved up to fifth in the league.

Meanwhile, we keep the pressure on league leaders St Austell whom we host on Saturday in what would be a Match of The Day scenario.

Okehampton Seconds 24 - Crediton Quins 21

The Quins run of successes came to an end at Okehampton with a narrow defeat although that in itself has not damaged the chances of winning the league to much.

Unfortunately, for the fifth time this season, league leaders OPM were awarded a home walkover after Buckfastleigh could not raise a team.

That in effect means that 25 of their points have been gifted to them without a ball being kicked! Of course, that is not their fault, it is simply how the regulations work.

With a number of regular First and Second team players not available, plus some of third teams players wanting to take part in Daffy’s last game we struggled to put a team together for the trip to Okehampton.

Rob Milton was phoned at 12.15pm and coerced into a comeback for his first game in four years and Ben Rodd, returning from a skiing holiday, drove straight from Bristol airport to the game in time to make the second half. 

We started slowly and were forced to defend for much of the first half. Starved of possession and field position we did well to only concede the one try for most of the first half.  Unfortunately though just as we thought we may have weathered the storm, Okehampton picked off an interception try to go under the sticks for a 12 point lead right on half-time.

With the advantage of the slope in the second half, we always felt that 12 points was not insurmountable and early second half pressure led to a Josh Atkinson try that was converted by Tom Ronchetti and we were certainly well in the game.

A quickly taken free kick caught us out and we were slow to react and lost a lot of field position.

It was against the run of play that Okehampton scored another try which was unconverted.

From the restart we got ourselves back into their half and a series of attacking rucks led to a Bobby Mogford try that was unconverted.

However we soon found ourselves under pressure again following some missed tackles from an Okehampton counter attack and conceded a converted try.

In the last play of the game Ollie Clark made a line break from within his own half and carried the ball deep into the Okehampton “22” before offloading in contact for Freddie Borthen to touch down for an all important consolation try which at least gave us a losing bonus point.

Tom Ronchetti landed the conversion.

Considering the difficulties we faced in getting a side together, the players can be reasonably pleased with their performance against a resurgent Okehampton second string side.

We have a real opportunity to regain top spot this coming Saturday when we travel to OPM for another top of the table clash.

The two sides have dominated the league for most of the season and it has been more or less a two horse race for much of the time. It will certainly be a tough battle but we have the ability to take the honours.

Crediton Thirds 21 - Exeter Saracens Seconds 14

There comes a time in every rugby players career when it is time to call it a day. In many instances it can be considered a somewhat premature decision and for others probably long overdue.

For Andy Dafters aka Daffy, he decided that this game would indeed be his last as he approached his 60th birthday.

Of course it had to be against Exeter Saracens whom he had enjoyed many encounters over the years since first putting on the Crediton shirt as a Colt in 1978.

Since then Daffy has played a total of 589 games for Crediton, including 232 First XV appearances. He has contributed 1,069 points from 69 tries, 134 conversions, 140 penalties and 22 drop goals.

Yes I know many of you will get calculators out and check the figures and come to a different total but some of the tries were only worth four points!

As to the game itself, well Sarries have struggled to get a side out on a number of occasions this season but they made a special effort to honour this fixture.

It was two evenly matched sides and in the Crediton side were one or two players who may be considered as being in the mature bracket.

It was certainly a blend of youth and experience that took the field proving the point that age is simply a number! 

The important thing though was that they were there for the occasion and the man himself.

We attacked strongly with some hard running and the ball passing through several pairs of hands ending with prop John Gurzynski crashing over, Hayden Hill landed the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

That lead increased when, after constant battering of Sarries line resulted in a try which both hooker Scott Baker and prop Dan Vertenten had a hand on the ball.

They are front row forwards and being the gentlemen that they are, neither would lay claim to the the try.

Unfortunately, we cannot credit them with two and a half points each and so the decision will have to be made at a later date! Nonetheless amongst all the debate, Hill added the two points with another successful conversion.

The moment that everyone had waited for arrived shortly before half-time when some excellent handling in a move that started on half-way ended with the ball in Daffy’s hands and, despite the attention of half the Sarries team hanging on to him, he forced his way over the line and there was no doubt who was going to claim that one, the reliable boot of Hill added the extra points.

The second half proved a little quieter from a Crediton perspective and Sarries made full use of the change of tempo by grabbing a couple of tries themselves but we held out to complete a solid and well deserved victory to allow Daffy to bow out on a high.

Of course, I am sure we have not seen the last of the man, he has been a huge help to many of the younger players as they come through to senior rugby.

His enthusiasm shines through always encouraging, always helping and always assisting in their development as players.

Hopefully, that will continue but in the meantime, perhaps those boots will be cleaned off one last time and put away in a cupboard and one day, maybe… just maybe! Oh! And for the record the try boosted his points tally to 1,074.

Brixham Colts 7 - Crediton Colts 25

The Colts recent upturn in fortune continued with a good win at Brixham in a friendly fixture. A trip to the Fishermen is never easy and this was a physical encounter where both sides went hard at it.

Playing down the slope in the first half, we took an early lead when James Dodge returned a goal line drop out with a drop goal!  As the half went on we weren’t making the best use of the gradient and on 19 minutes, after some concerted pressure, Brixham took the lead with a converted try.

This score did wake the lads up and we started to play with more direction. With 25 minutes gone Charlie Conner rounded off a good move with a try, Tom Gray adding the extras and on the stroke of half-time Ben Harris went over to make it 7-15 at the break.

The second half was played out in a similar vein. Not for the first time, it made life difficult by not looking after the ball and giving away needless penalties.

In saying that, some of our attacking play was top class and our defence very solid.

At 15 minutes into the second period Conner crashed over for his second try and five minutes later Tariq Sayers broke up the touchline and saw off several would be tacklers before going over to make it 7-25 and that’s how it stayed until full-time.

With a run of cup games coming up it was great to get another game under our belts. Top effort lads.

This weekend sees two top table clashes, the First XV host league leaders St Austell whilst the Quins travel to Plymouth to take on the leaders of their league OPM.

The Thirds travel to Exmouth for a Merit Table game against their Thirds and the Colts also visit the seaside for a Cup game at Sidmouth.

Good luck to all the teams in what might be described as a Super Saturday.

Paul Harris