CREDITON 13 - WELLINGTON 12

WITH several players from the fine win at Wadebridge the previous week not available, it was a different looking back line that took the field against Wellington on Saturday, September 8.

Most notable was the inclusion of Dan Yendell at fly-half. Dan has played all his senior and Colts rugby as a hooker and there could be no more difficult a transition from that position to stand off!

For those of us who had a quizzical look at the match programme it was not a printing error and, as it turned out neither was it an error of judgement by selectors.

Their confidence in him was well-founded and he did everything that was asked of him and generally played a solid game, his handling and distribution was good and he never shirked a tackle.

Wellington looked a really powerful side, with a big weight advantage in the forwards and indeed the first scrum of the game had us going backwards.

For the opening half hour, they dominated territory and possession keeping us pegged in our own half for most of the time.

Once again though our outstanding defensive qualities shone through. No 8 Ben Wonnacott (B.Sc) in particular was all over the park putting in tackle after tackle although to be fair, everyone from one to 15 put bodies on the line to thwart the Wellington attacks.

It was somewhat against the run of play when, on the half-hour mark, we kicked a penalty to the corner and the lineout produced a classic catch and drive ending with veteran prop Wayne Reed crashing over on what was our first sojourn into their “22”.

Wellington huffed and puffed their way to the interval but never really threatened our line and so at half-time we had a five-point advantage and had done much to balance out the scrum.

The second period was a different story, we had more ball and played much more rugby in their half but as is so often the case, when sides attack from deep, they often create opportunities and it was not long before Wellington had taken the lead when a neat chip over the top found three of their backs and none of our defenders and it was their centre who gathered and went in under the posts.

The conversion put them 7-5 ahead.

Back we came and put enormous pressure on their line but it was their defence which held out. With time running out it was another attack from depth which brought a score, fortunately in our favour.

Some good handling on half-way found full-back Ollie Down come into the line at pace and he was far too quick for the visiting defence to score in the corner.

Although he missed the conversion, he did pop over a penalty a few minutes later. Even so we were less than a score ahead and Wellington needing a converted try for victory.

A penalty on half-way saw them kick to the corner but a remarkable catch by winger Andrew Smerdon, as he leapt salmon-like to pluck the ball out of the air and prevent the kick finding touch. He then made 20 metres up the touchline and to relative safety.

A defensive lapse allowed Wellington a five-metre scrum followed by a penalty which they went for a lineout. We did defend that but eventually they found space out wide for their centre to go over again. Fortunately, the conversion missed its target and the final whistle went.

A great result and the first time since 2005-06 that we have won our opening two league games at this level. We did achieve that in our promotion year from Cornwall and Devon League in 2013-14 but that was in a league lower than we currently play.

The players deserve great credit for the performance, it was the first league defeat that Wellington had suffered in almost a year.

Two wins from two games, second in the table, it is a while since we reached such dizzy heights. Confidence will be high but there are still 24 tough games to come.

OKEHAMPTON SECONDS 31 - CREDITON SECONDS 26

This was always going to be a tough game for the ‘Quins but they pushed Okehampton all the way and earned two bonus points with this narrow defeat.

Tries came from Chris Hooper, Theo Gray, Tom Luxmoor and Ben Lumley plus three conversions from Tom Ronchetti made up the scorers.

The Third Fifteen lost at Okehampton 22-31.

CREDITON COLTS 68 - BIDEFORD COLTS 14

Bideford deserve great credit for fulfilling the fixture despite being short on numbers. Fortunately, we had a number of replacements and loaned them enough to make up a full side.

The game proved a bit one-sided but Bideford never gave up and battled away all game.

For the Colts, centre Josh Woodland bagged five tries and four conversions for a total of 33 points, co-centre Cameron Storey claimed a hat-trick of tries and a conversion, No 8 Will Crang touched down twice and there was a try apiece for scrum-half Tyler Farley and Finnley Morgan.

A good start to their Colts Shield campaign.

Paul Harris