CREDITON 31-26 NORTH PETHERTON

AFTER last weekend’s below-par performance against Winscombe, the coaches and players knew that there was a big week ahead and the first thing they did at training was to dissect the issues and set out a clear route forward.

This set up a fantastic training week, and we went into the home game against North Petherton extremely confident that we could turn things around.

The game could not have started better and within a couple of minutes we were ahead. An early penalty for a high tackle, an area of the game the referee was hot on all afternoon, gave us the opportunity to kick for the corner. The forwards did their bit and a successful catch-and-drive ended with Luke Mingo dotting down for a 5-0 lead.

We dominated possession and territory for the opening 15 minutes but couldn’t add to the score.

A couple of penalties gave North Petherton a springboard to set about getting themselves in the game and a barrage of pressure resulted in an increasing penalty count against us.

One offence too many led to a team yellow card, Josh Goldman the unfortunate recipient.

The visitors turned that pressure into points: a try plus the extras were scored, and we were 5-7 down.

There was no panic and we dominated the rest of the half, moving the ball more than any other game this season.

Another opportunity to kick to the corner was taken and, although the initial catch and drive was thwarted, after a couple of phases veteran Lance Palmer burrowed over for a rare score. Ollie Avery-Wright was successful with the conversion, making it 12-7.

This was quickly followed by another try as Ed Brady pounced on a wayward North Petherton lineout on their 10m line and set off on a trademark run.

Beating a couple of defenders in the process, he touched down and, with Avery-Wright slotting the extras, we were suddenly 19-7 up as the half-time whistle blew.

The second half started in a similar fashion to the first. We were soon into our rhythm, and within a couple of minutes, Josh Goldman hit a fantastic line from a well-worked lineout and burst through the defensive line to score. Another Avery-Wright conversion made it 26-7 and it looked like we had the game sewn up.

The Somerset lads weren’t having any of that though, and 26-7 soon became 26-19 as our discipline began to falter.

A nasty shoulder injury to new full-back signing Louis Upton, which will sideline him for a few months, saw a re-jig in the backline but we regained some composure and Kev Dennis finished superbly in the corner to make it 31-19.

With time running out, North Petherton threw the kitchen sink at us and managed a converted try with the final play of the game. It was too late for them and, after what was a really hard-fought game, we came out on top with our first five-pointer of the season.

This coming Saturday, October 18, the 1st XV travel to Ivybridge, the 2nd XV host Bideford, the 3rd XV head to Bideford and the Colts XV are away at Devonport Services.

Rob Avery-Wright, Chris Hooper and Jay Harris