CREDITON RUGBY CLUB NOTES

CREDITON 13 - OKEHAMPTON 26

THIS game was won and lost in the first 20 minutes when Okehampton raced into a 21-0 lead and in all honesty it looked like a rout was on the cards.

Despite a brief spell of Crediton pressure, it was the visitors who took the lead against the run of play with a try created and finished through their pacey back division, centre Tom Powell added the extras.

Within minutes they were 14 points clear with another try, this one from No 8 Gaz Evans who, from a controlled maul broke clear to score, Powell converting again.

Okey were looking in ominous form as the hosts struggled to gain possession and when the third try was scored on 20 minutes when scrum-half Noah Nash pounced on a loose ball from a scrum and darted down the blind side from the Crediton “22” it looked like game set and match.

The home side did manage to pull themselves together and a Mark Lee penalty reduced the arrears although as an attacking force Crediton were struggling to put passes together.

The half-time chat seemed to have the desired effect and Lee reduced the arrears with another penalty, Crediton tightened up their game and began to dominate territory and possession.

Okes were forced to concede penalties which Crediton kicked to the corner but either failed to win lineout ball or got turned over when they did.

Nonetheless, the home side kept up the pressure and eventually cut the deficit to eight points with a well-worked try when Mark Lee broke clear but was hauled down near the line, he did manage an offload to centre Chris Simpson who crashed over, Lee adding the extras.

Crediton then went in search of the bonus point and earned a couple of penalties but the efforts drifted wide.

A tremendous break down the left touchline by home No 8 Mark Nott looked to have secured a try in the corner but the tackle came in and the ball was dislodged before he could ground it.

With time running out, Okey went on the offensive and gained a bonus point try when centre Rhys Palmer ran a superb angle to wrong foot the home defence and score close to the posts although the conversion went unconverted.

Okehampton looked particularly strong in all aspects of the game, their error count was minimal and their pace outside caused problems.

That said, Crediton created opportunities and with more clinical finishing could well have sneaked a win. The encouraging part was that although we lost the first quarter of the game we actually won the remaining three quarters but playing catch up when three scores down is never easy and so it proved today.

The result did not dramatically affect our position in the league, certainly Penryn gained five points on us with their win, but both Sidmouth and Wadebridge are in more perilous situations.

Wadebridge have two games remaining, both at home against ourselves and Devonport.

Sidmouth have three games left against Penryn and Tiverton at home and Exeter University away.

Each of the bottom five teams has much to play for in what is a very tight situation.

Normally, accumulating 35 points would be sufficient to avoid relegation, this year it will take much nearer 47 or 48 to be certain.

OKEHAMPTON SECONDS 24 - CREDITON SECONDS 7

Crediton Seconds travelled to Okehampton to play their old adversaries in a Devon Merit Table One League fixture.

Both sides started with clear intent but it was Okehampton who were the first on the scoreboard after 10 minutes when Crediton gave away a silly penalty for being offside in a ruck.

Crediton fought hard to overcome this early deficit but Okehampton were matching them in all areas and had the slight advantage in the tackle area where their players showed much more physicality and determination.

Five minutes from half-time Okehampton increased their lead. Winning a scrum on the Crediton 22 metres line Okehampton moved the ball wide where two missed tackles by the Crediton defence allowed the Okehampton winger to go over for an easy try, which was also converted, for a 10-0 interval lead to the home side.

Now playing against a strong wind Crediton rallied to get onto the scoreboard but the Okehampton defence held strong and repeatedly nullified the Crediton attacks.

On the hour mark and against the run of play Okey increased their lead when they won their own scrum ball on the half-way line which their No 8 picked up and gained good ground before putting his No 10 into space and once again a missed tackle by a Crediton defender allowed him to go over for a converted try.

Crediton responded quickly and took play into the Okehampton 22 metres area where they created many phases of play trying to break down the Okehampton defence.

This breakthrough came when Okehampton were penalised for killing the ball and Crediton took a quick tap penalty to Joe Rees who made good ground before offloading to Raf Zappia who got the final touchdown with Tom Ronchetti adding the extras.

This score spurred Crediton on but still they could not break through the Okehampton defence.

The game looked to be closing out but in the last minute of the game a desperate kick out of defence by Okehampton landed in the Crediton 22 metre area where the Crediton players failed to secure the loose ball and the chasing Okehampton players took advantage to gather the ball and go over for a converted try which was the last play of the game.

Although the scoreboard doesn’t reflect how even the game was overall, the Okehampton players seemed always to have the edge over Crediton in their desire to win, and this showed clearly in their determination and work rate in both attack and defence.

Devon Intermediate Cup Semi-Final

PAIGNTON 12 - CREDITON 15

In a hastily arranged semi-final on Wednesday, April 6, we eased our way past Paignton to book our place in the final.

The early stages were not helped by conceding a number of penalties and mid-way through the first half we were 3-9 down.

Although clearly the better side we were unable to turn our dominance into points until shortly before the interval, No 8 Mark Nott went over for a try.

Early in the second half he repeated the exercise and Mark Lee converted to put us six points clear. Paignton scored another penalty and nearly bagged a winner but for a try saving tackle from scrum-half Ed Brady.

The final will be played on Wednesday, April 20 at Crediton with a 7pm kick off against high-flying Kingsbridge who cruised into the final without playing a game!

Fixtures tomorrow, Saturday, April 16: Wadebridge v Crediton (away); Crediton ‘Quins v Brixham Crusaders (home); Tavistock Seconds v Crediton Thirds (away) and Teignmouth Colts v Crediton Colts (away).

Paul Harris