Crediton 18 v North Petherton 13

THE two sides were more or less neck and neck in the league standings prior to the game and so it was no real surprise that the contest between the two was equally as close. Whilst at no stage in the game were we behind, the truth is we were never sufficiently far ahead to feel comfortable.

An Ollie Avery-Wright penalty put us 3-0 up after seven minutes and when flanker Chris Courtier went over from a driving maul 10 minutes later with Avery-Wright landing the conversion we were 10-0 ahead and the thoughts of a bonus point began to fill our heads.

Of course, you can never rely on opponents to follow the intended script and North Petherton were in no mood to surrender that early in the game.

A penalty for a high tackle allowed them a simple three points.

We were then put under pressure for the best part of 20 minutes and our defence was indeed rock solid as we kept them away from our line and they must have felt deflated to have put in so much effort for no reward.

To make matters worse, right on half-time, a trade mark try from winger Josh Woodland, such a strong finisher, as he was put away with some distance to go but his pace and strength got him home. The conversion attempt drifted wide but at the interval we were 15-3 to the good.

The second period began with the visitors in even more determined mood and we were constantly on the back foot defending.

Pressure eventually told as another penalty pulled three points back for them.

We should have increased our lead with a third try when centre Dean Seals made an excellent break and perhaps should have backed himself to take on the oncoming defender, however his inside pass found a support player who then got bundled into touch a few yards short. Another opportunity came this time in the opposite corner and it certainly looked as though Woodland had scored but the ball was deemed to be held up and a goal line drop out allowed the visitors to clear.

Another Avery-Wright penalty restored the 12-point lead but North Petherton were not done yet and they bounced back with a converted try at the end to earn themselves a losing bonus point and no-one could have begrudged them that.

On the whole we deserved the win mainly because we created more chances and took two of them.

Defensively it was a performance that we are more used to seeing, solid and well organised. The lineouts still need some work on and the scrums were fairly evenly matched.

It was a bit of a grim Saturday for the rest of the teams, Cullompton were unable to raise a Second XV for the Merit Table game at home, Exeter Saracen’s Colts pulled out of their home fixture with us on Saturday morning.

At Ilfracombe, the Third XV travelled to take on Ilfracombe First XV in a game that was forced to be abandoned due to a nasty injury to Brad Bolt. Fortunately, all is well with Brad and we wish him a speedy recovery.

On Saturday. November 27, the First XV make the long trip to Cheltenham to take on bottom Club Old Patesians, the Quins host Newton Abbot Seconds and the Colts travel to Ivybridge.

Paul Harris