ON Sunday, October 23, Crediton RFC Ladies travelled to Penryn to face a side that they had not faced for a few seasons.  Despite this the Ladies started the game strongly, pressing the home side back into their own half and maintaining a very tight hold on possession.

However, Crediton were not going to have things all their own way as a confusing decision was made and Rachel Mortimer was shown a yellow card and asked to leave the field for 10 minutes.

This could have rattled the away side but with some rejigging of the back line they mounted an assault on Penryn’s line and with some hard work from the forwards Holly Yeandle crossed the line, which Alice Cook stepped up and converted.

Crediton now, with the bit between their teeth, regained the kick off and ran the ball back and with some beautiful phase play from forwards and backs alike, set up camp again in Penryn’s half.

The pressure soon took its toll on the defending side and when Crediton crossed the line there was no surprise when Holly Yeandle came up with the ball for her second of the match.  Unfortunately, the conversion flew wide of the posts.

Now with both sides back up to 15 players, neither team could break through each others defence to sustain dominance and at the half-time interval, the score stood at Penryn 0, Crediton 12.

After the break, the away side started to take control with some fearless tackling from Tash Currie, Sarah Kingdon and Holly Keast to mention a few.

Crediton began to win more and more of the collisions, giving them clean possession.  Allowing the backs to start to show their skills, moving the ball with speed and composure, to find space on the outside for Alice Cook to dart down the wing to score under the posts, giving Rachel Mortimer the opportunity to convert which she did with ease.

A new sense of hunger started to run through the Crediton side, to look for the bonus point win.

With some astute tactical kicking from Rachel Mortimer and Alice Cook soon putting the home side under pressure.

Crediton’s set piece was firing on all cylinders which contributed massively throughout the game, giving the backline the space to set captain Danni Phillips on her way to score with bags of support around her.

This showed how hard all players are working for each other at present.  Unfortunately, Rachel’s conversion attempt drifted wide of the posts.

From the restart, Crediton pushed forward again with great line speed, before an offside infringement led to another yellow card, this time for Liberty Baker, who was to spend the rest of the match in the bin.

With Crediton down a player Penryn took their opportunity and with some very hard running saw them over the line which was thoroughly deserved as they had battled torridly throughout the match.

Thank you to Penryn for hosting us and thank you to the supporters who came down, it really does make a difference.

Please join us at home on November 13 when we take on our nearest opponents Topsham.  Should be a cracker, so as much support as possible please!

Kev Ellis