Crediton 18 v Hornets 22

THE Hornets from Weston Super Mare were our visitors on Saturday and, with a large crowd getting behind the boys, we put on a good show against the league leaders.

The ground staff had worked incredibly hard to get the pitch in a playable condition, that said it was very wet as you would expect given the relentless wave of storms and conditions throughout the game were changeable.

It was the third time this season we entertained the team that was at the top of the league and, having suffered a 55 point defeat on their patch back in November, we knew a win would be a tall order.

Add to that the fact that Hornets had scored 220 points in their previous four games and the odds against us seemed even greater. However, as it turned out, the game could have either way but in the end we were forced to settle for a losing bonus point. The significant difference was probably that the visitors were a little more clinical with their finishing. They certainly did not spend a huge amount of time in our “22" but when they did they usually came away with some points. Other than that, it was an evenly contested game and we certainly proved that we can compete with the best in the league.

Crediton started with wind in their favour

We started strongly and with the wind in our favour were able to play in the opposition territory.  The forwards were working hard and good carries from Mark Nott and new signing Luke Mingo were keeping us on the front foot. 

It took 17 minutes for the scoreboard to be troubled when an Ollie Avery-Wright penalty gave us the lead. The joy was relatively short lived though as Hornets response was swift and we immediately found ourselves under some pressure. From a scrum in our ’22 a simple 9, 10, 12 move saw the visitors in under the posts.  With the extras added it was 3 - 7.

Our scrum was performing well and we were perhaps unfortunate not to be rewarded when, on a few occasions, the Hornets front row stood up.  

While conditions were not best suited to an expansive game, both sets of players were keen to try and play and we were stretched when the visitors attacked from their 10m line.

Avery-Wright slotted a superb long range penalty to make it 6 - 7 before a promising attack from Hornets ended when the ball was spilled around half way.  

Our second new arrival Luke Honeychurch hacked through and won the foot race, sliding in to score.  With the conversion successful we were ahead 13 - 7 with half time not far off.

With half time approaching, once again the visitors used the driving maul to good effect and again released the ball to their dangerous backs and their fullback came into the line to create the extra attacker and exploited the gap to score, adding the conversion himself. The interval arrived with us trailing by a point.

Wind against Crediton in second half

With the wind now against, the second half was going to be tricky and opportunities were likely to be few and far between.  

On 52 minutes Avery-Wright had a penalty attempt but the wind had other ideas, blowing the kick wide and short.  

However a good chase put the visitors under pressure until a needless penalty gave them a way out.  All was not lost though as we stole the lineout and after a couple of phases the ball found its way to winger Josh Woodland. Still with some work to do, he beat a couple of defenders to squeeze in at the corner.  

This superb finish put us back in front, 18 - 14.

There was still a long way to go and Hornets were using the elements well to pin us back in our own territory and we were struggling to exit.  

The defence was holding up but with just over an hour gone the ball was worked wide form a scrum.  Our defence was drawn in and with space opening up, Hornets went over to make it 18 - 19.  

This was followed by a penalty and with just a couple of minutes remaining we were 18 - 22 down.

Tremendous performance from debutants

From the kick off, Hornets lost the ball into touch giving us a lineout outside their ’22.  Chasing the game we won good ball in the middle and set up a maul.  

The forwards started to rumble and, with some added weight from the backs, we were advancing towards the line.  With just a metre or so to go could we snatch victory?  Alas not as the maul somehow collapsed, the reasons for which were debated long into the night.  With one final push for the line, the ball was knocked on and the game was over.

This was a tremendous performance with debutants Luke Mingo and Luke Honeychurch making telling contributions to an all round good team effort.

Two losing bonus points from the last two games against the top two sides in the league may seem a meagre return from performances that could easily have produced two wins.

Nonetheless those two bonus points could yet prove significant and the performances themselves have certainly given us confidence and a platform to build on and there is much more to come from this team as we enter the final half dozen games.

Paul Harris