CREDITON 13 - DEVONPORT 7

IT certainly does not pay to visit Crediton the week after your side moves to the top of the league as both Thornbury last week and now Devonport have found out.

The pattern of the weekend resembled the previous week with an England victory followed by one for Crediton, two fantastic weekends of rugby for English Kirtonians!

For the opening quarter of the game Devonport looked a strong attacking force as they retained possession and used their backs to good effect but did not have that bit extra to break through our defence which it has to be said was magnificent throughout.

Where they did look vulnerable was in the set scrum where their front row spent more time with heads in the air than a British Airways pilot.

Our first foray into the visitors ‘22’ came on 20 minutes when a raking touchline kick from a penalty found its mark deep in the Devonport half, the lineout was won and the ball moved wide and just when it looked as though the move would fail, up popped the try machine that is Josh Woodland to grab his fifth of the season. Ollie Avery-Wright converted for a 7-0 lead.

Both sides continued to have their fair share of the game. The home scrum was dominant, but the visitors were showing glimpses of why they were top of the league.

Back into the Devonport half we went and earned a penalty which Avery-Wright popped over with ease for a 10-0 interval lead.

Voices were raised in the Devonport camp during the interval and it seemed that they would come out firing on all cylinders for the second half.

In effect the reverse happened, we began to take control and the visiting scrum was suffering and began to concede a few penalties.

However, hard as we tried we found it difficult to penetrate their defence although Avery-Wright did increase the lead with a smartly taken drop goal.

For the final 15 minutes we were pegged back in our own ‘22’ and whilst the defence held firm, we were giving up a few penalties which Devonport decided to run.

Phase after phase they tried to break through but to no avail until Mark Lee was given a 10-minute breather in the sin bin for a high tackle.

Devonport did eventually cross the line when skipper and No 8 Matt Gregory touched down, fly-half Richard West converted to bring them to within a score and a nerve-wracking final couple of minutes.

Needless to say we managed to run down the clock for another excellent victory and to have bagged nine points from a possible 10 off the top two sides in the league is a remarkable achievement.

There were no doubt some battered and bruised but equally happy bodies in the Clubhouse afterwards none more so than Lance Palmer who celebrated his 200th First Fifteen games with a Man of The Match award.

So, for two weeks on the bounce the league leaders have come unstuck at Blagdon and it’s been no fluke. The commitment, the desire and the character shown by the players has been outstanding and the quality of rugby a joy to watch.

There are no senior matches tomorrow, Saturday, November 2, as there is the small matter of the Rugby World Cup Final! The game will be on at the club with breakfast available too!

CREDITON 2nds 0 - DEVONPORT 29

Not to be outdone by their First Fifteen, Devonport Seconds are also top of Devon Merit Table One and have more or less swept all before them so far this season.

Whilst we battled hard and, rather like the Firsts dominated their scrum, unfortunately, the visitors had a bit too much outside for us.

SOUTH MOLTON 2nds - CREDITON 3rds 10

The Third Fifteen continued their run of successes in Merit Table Two, with a hard-earned victory at South Molton.

Neil Collins scored the only try, his third in three games, with Hayden Hill converting and also landing a penalty.

The next Senior games are on Saturday, November 9 when the First Fifteen travel to Weston-super-Mare to play third placed Hornets RFC.

The Second Fifteen host Paignton whilst the Third Fifteen travel to Okehampton for a friendly. The Colts also have a home friendly against Paignton.

Paul Harris