Old Patesians 24 - Crediton 25

OUR first ever visit to Cheltenham-based Old Patesians gave us our first away win of the season…just!

Although bottom of the table, Old Pats are certainly not a team to take lightly and whilst they have only managed a solitary draw from their opening nine games, they have picked up bonus points on the way. There was an element of doubt about the game going ahead as an early morning telephone call indicated that there was a covering of snow on the pitch. However, confirmation was soon received that the game would go ahead.

The game itself was as close as the score suggests and whilst we had the slope in our favour in the first half, we were playing against a very strong wind.

For almost the entire opening quarter we were camped in our own “22” and the defence and discipline was outstanding and indeed it was against the run of play that we actually took the lead.

We turned over possession on our 10 metre line and No8 Ben Wonnacott broke clear down the blind side, a perfectly timed pass to Josh Woodland who did the rest from half-way, outpacing the oncoming defenders. Unfortunately, even the boot of Ollie Avery-Wright could not get the better of the prevailing wind.

Within minutes, the home side had levelled with a well worked try out wide but the conversion attempt was no easier with the wind behind. We continued to defend well and managed to work the ball downfield on a few occasions and just before half time we had a rush of tries. Firstly, Old Pats took the lead when pressure meant we coughed up a few penalties and their decision to take quick “tap and goes” bore fruit with a converted try, 12-5, surely that would be half-time?

Fortunately not as our response was quick and we pressured their line for several phases before Josh Davey was on the bottom of a driving maul, hardly the place to find a fullback! Ollie A-W landed a great conversion, 12 all, the half-time whistle must go now. Not this time either.

Directly from the restart, the hosts came back with some neat handling from their backs ended with another try in the corner, the conversion failed and the half-time whistle blew, 17-12 to the home side.

Ten minutes into the second half and we had taken the lead, the scrums had been evenly contested with neither side gaining any real advantage and so it was no surprise when from a five metre scrum, scrum half Ed Brady with some quick thinking picked up and darted down the blind side to score out wide. A superb conversion from OAW, put us two points ahead.

We continued to put pressure on and Old Pats were giving up penalties and it was two quality efforts from OAW that put us two scores ahead at 25-17.

The last word went to the home side though, their restart from the second of those penalties did not appear to go the required 10 metres and it seems we opted to play it.

The ball then knocked on, the resulting scrum gave them an opportunity to run and they did eventually break our defence to score, the conversion was successful and we were ahead by a single point 25-24. We battled out the remaining five minutes to earn a well-deserved but hard-earned victory.

Old Pats were indeed a fairly big side and whilst they remain at the foot of the table, there are sides that will go there and lose. The conditions made handling and kicking difficult and it is a credit to Ollie Avery-Wright that he only missed on one attempt. Victories on the road are difficult to come by and it was certainly a happy bus on the return journey.

Crediton Quins 31 - Newton Abbot Seconds 10

The first hour of the game was very evenly contested and predicting a winner looked a difficult task. However, the final quarter the Quins sparked into life and ended up as comfortable winners.

The visitors began the stronger of the two sides and opened the scoring on 10 minutes when some sloppy defending gifted them a try out wide.

The wake up call had the desired effect and long periods of pressure forced the All Whites into conceding penalties allowing us to gain good field positions.

After a series of attacks, flanker Sam Rowe darted over to level the scores. Within 10 minutes we were ahead when a clever tactical kick and a great chase ended with winger Matt Pearce finishing off for a 10-5 lead.

The game reached something of a stalemate and instead of kicking on and increasing our lead, we allowed Newton back into the game and they levelled the scores with some quality play through their backs and it was anybody’s game.

As the game entered the final quarter, a powerful run from centre Ethan Power created space for Jordan Pring to sprint in under the posts. The final minutes were dominated by the Quins and there were further tries from Josh Pearce and Ethan Pearce, both converted by Tom Ronchetti to put the result beyond doubt.

Ivybridge Colts 26 - Crediton Colts 19

The Colts travelled to Ivybridge keen to turn the tables on the opposition following a 0-21 defeat at home earlier in the season.

It is widely accepted that Ivybridge are one of the top sides in the county and, while on this occasion the Kirton lads fell just short, our performance and the 26-19 scoreline confirmed that we are a pretty useful outfit ourselves.

With the slope and the elements in our favour for the first half we wanted to play the territory and put the home side under pressure right from the off. We managed this reasonably successfully during the opening quarter although were guilty of giving Ivybridge some easy exits when we needed to pin them in their ’22. This gave them the opportunity to have some possession in our half and, to be fair, they looked dangerous.

Indeed it was Ivybridge who opened the scoring 20 minutes in when we succumbed to pressure on our line and they drove over from close range to go 5-0 up.

We responded well and some clever kicks from Kofi Firth, Haydn Gosling and Jack Ballet kept the hosts pinned back. Following a kick exit, we countered well and after a couple of forward phases, spread the ball wide and some slick handling saw Ballet go over. Gosling converted and we were ahead 5-7 with 25 minutes gone.

That’s how it stayed until half-time. Both sides continued to have chances but defences were solid with some big tackles being made.

We knew the second half was going to be tough and after conceding almost immediately after the break to fall 12-7 behind, things looked ominous.

However, this squad has a spirit that is second to none and for the next 15 minutes showed an outstanding work rate in both attack and defence. On the hour mark we regained the lead when Freddie Blackburn made a trademark break and glided around a couple of defenders to score. James Dodge converted for 12-14.

In the home fixture we conceded two late tries and history repeated itself as Ivybridge went over twice in quick succession to lead 26-14. It was our lads who had the final say though when Tom Gulley barged over with the last play of the game. Final score 26-19.

The view of the coaches and the travelling support was that this was an awesome effort by the whole squad and there really was little to choose between the two sides. Well played lads, you did yourselves proud.

Tomorrow, we have our local derby against Sidmouth at Exhibition Road, the Quins travel to Sidmouth and the Colts travel to Bideford.

Paul Harris