Crediton 35 v Bridgwater 15

IT has been such a long wait to watch the First XV play a home league game but the players ensured that the wait was worthwhile with a solid performance against Bridgwater.

A couple of home defeats had left Bridgwater struggling at the foot of the table but they had a few players returning and fielded their strongest side to date.

The opening few minutes saw the visitors begin to dominate possession and territory but, as in the previous game at Thornbury, our defence was in fine form.

We did take the lead on eight minutes when a strong tackle in the centre saw the attempted pass intercepted by winger Josh Woodland who raced 45 metres to touch down, Ollie Avery-Wright adding the extras.

Within minutes, a series of driving mauls led to a penalty five metres off the Bridgwater line, this was quickly taken by Luke Mingo who was driven over for a try, again Avery-Wright landed the conversion.

Bridgwater were stirred into action and a good break by their centre Oskar White created the opportunity for veteran lock, Wayne Sprangle to crash over.

Both sides were keen to play a passing game and with three tries in the opening 15 minutes, a try-fest looked a distinct possibility. However, it was defences that took centre stage with neither side creating scoring opportunities.

Our lead was increased on the half-hour when the visitors were penalised for not rolling away at the tackle and Avery-Wright had no difficulty in adding the three points.

Any hopes that we would begin to pull-away were soon knocked back when shortly before the interval, we conceded a penalty and Bridgwater decided to go for a lineout.

Their adventurous decision was rewarded when hooker Gavin Knight was driven over, fly Stuart Heal landed the conversion to bring them within five points at the interval.

The second half began with the visitors in confident mood, bouyed by their second try they seemed to have the momentum with them and when we were penalised for handling in a ruck, the points difference was narrowed to two as Heal landed a simple penalty on 50 minutes.

We certainly needed to reassert some authority on the game and pressure in the visitors half produced penalties in the 55th and 65th minutes, both of which Avery-Wright converted and once more we had a two score lead.

We continued to press home the advantage that we had gained in the scrum and the tiring Bridgwater pack began to struggle, conceding penalties and from one, a quick tap took us to the line and eventually, replacement back row forward Chris Hooper dived over in the corner, Avery-Wright was only a fraction wide with the difficult conversion.

With a 13 point lead, we began to play with a little more freedom and the bonus point try came along in fine style.

A long clearance kick was safely gathered on our 10 metre line just in from the touchline and the ball fed inside to Avery-Wright who made 20 yards before offloading a perfectly timed pass to centre Dan Yendell whose pace took him to the Bridgwater “22” before another neat pass to Woodland who did the rest and with Avery-Wright landing the extras, we were home and dry.

After the disappointment of a narrow defeat last week, it was important that we bounced back and certainly, some of the mistakes at Thornbury seemed to have been ironed out, especially the restarts.

Again, the performance and ultimately the victory was based on some outstanding defence. Whilst Bridgwater may be at the foot of the table, they put out a decent side, certainly the strongest one they have fielded to date. We had to work exceptionally hard for the win and there were times when they had the upper hand, particularly early in the second half.

However, they were unable to turn that pressure into points other than a penalty.

It is still early days and there will be plenty of harder challenges to come but we have made a decent start to the season and we will no doubt improve as the weeks go by.

Withycombe Seconds 19 v Crediton Thirds 31

A lovely sunny day and what could be better than a trip to the seaside for a game of open running rugby.

Ask any front row forward and they would say it is something to look forward to but maybe with the exception of the words open and running!

This was a perfect blend of youth and experience and once the youngsters had learned the language of the older guys (and vice versa), the communication improved as did the performance.

We started up the slope but it was the home side that took the initiative and were the first to score with a converted try.

However, we began to dominate the scrums and and apply pressure and with some good possession set the backs on their way.

We reached the interval all square at 12 points a piece but with the slope to our advantage, the players felt that they could win.

Making full use of the slope, possession and territory, the Thirds ran in three more tries, two converted whilst Withycombe replied with one of their own.

It was an entertaining game all round with both sides contributing and played in a tremendous spirit.

Of course the forwards will inevitably decide how the game is played and it is probably no surprise that it was they who grabbed the scoring glory, veteran prop Kevin Ellis (who started playing when a try was worth only three points!) ran fully three metres for his two tries, lock forward Callum Anthony grabbed one as did flanker Matt Arnold. Strong running Scott Mills was the only back to score other than centre Tom Ronchetti who landed three conversions.

Paul Harris