ONCE again, Mother Nature got the better of Crediton Rugby Club on Saturday, January 21, although not a complete wipeout of the games as the Quins did get their game played at Torrington.

However, perhaps the disappointing turn of events was the manner in which the postponement was handled at North Petherton, the First XV players having already arrived at the ground and the referee also present, having made the journey up from St Austell.

It was only when everyone was there that the decision was made to call the game off because the ground was frozen.

These calls must be made much earlier in order to prevent players and officials wasting time and effort travelling such distances.

We have all been in these situations and indeed we were in a similar situation with the home game for the Colts on Saturday.

The difference being that we maintained contact with the opposition in order for a decision to be made before they headed to Crediton and allowed us to leave things as late as possible.

In the end we erred on the side of caution and postponed the game. It was the right call and common sense prevailed.

Meanwhile of course, perhaps the one place where we might have anticipated the frost to be the victor on the day, Torrington, was actually clear and the bright sunshine ensured that the game went ahead.

The home game against the same opponents back in October was won 37-15 and this return game which was rescheduled from December produced a similar outcome with a bonus point win to maintain the pressure on league leaders OPM First.

The 31-12 scoreline does not perhaps reflect the true nature of the game as we were never totally in command and only two late scores provided the breathing space.

The Torrington pitch has a fairly pronounced slope and the home side had the advantage for the first half.

An early try from Macca Jones put us 5-0 ahead but Torrie responded with two of their own plus a conversion to lead 12-5.

Generally, our defence was solid and we were beginning to get the better of things at the scrum.

The slope was not proving such a disadvantage either as we spent plenty of time in the home “22”.

We did think that we had pulled a try back when fly half Josh Goldman exploited a gap to touch down but it was disallowed as we were penalised for “crossing” earlier in the move.

Not to be deterred, soon after it was flanker Matt Pearce with an explosive break to clear the defence and score at the posts, Owen Cooper landed the extras and at the interval we had kept things level at 12 all.

With the hard work done, or so it seemed, we now had the benefit of the slope but it took some time before we could turn that advantage into points.

The game became a stop start affair littered with penalties and injuries and any flow was disrupted.

Torrington defended strongly and were helped by some handling errors when we got ourselves into promising positions.

In the final quarter things did begin to come together and we eventually took the lead with a superb solo effort from scrum half Joe Dodge whose pace proved too sharp for the home defenders as he went half the length of the pitch and with a final side step scored under the posts, Cooper converted for 19-12.

Torrington battled back and kept us under pressure, going through phases but our defence held firm and a turnover ball in our half led to a breakaway try for Goldman who added the extras.

The finishing touch came from another try from deep for Aiden Davies to complete the scoring.

A solid if at times a somewhat error strewn performance but we stayed focussed and earned the bonus point win against a Torrington side that are always difficult to break down.

With three games lost to the weather, the First XV fixture backlog is beginning to pile up and already it is likely to have an effect on our next Devon Cup fixture scheduled for March 18.

However, for now we face Sherborne at Blagdon on Saturday whilst the Quins travel to Newcross. The Thirds have a home Merit Table fixture against Honiton Seconds. The Colts continue their Colts Cup challenge with a visit to Ivybridge.

Congratulations to Louis Gulley and James Howard on their appearance for the Exeter Chiefs U18 and U17 Academy respectively. Playing against Gloucester at Kingsholm must have been an awesome experience.

Paul Harris