St Austell 34 - Crediton 15

THIS was a day for unbeaten records to be broken and the Red Roses of England found earlier in the day, so the First XV followed suit in the afternoon.

Second placed St Austell has often been an unhappy hunting ground for Crediton.

They have been a consistently good side over the past few years and only just missed out on promotion last season.

The opening quarter of the game saw Crediton in the ascendancy and it was somewhat against the run of play when their pacey winger Konnor Ewudzi broke clear to score with fly half Matt Shephard adding the extras.

Ed Brady came close to grabbing a try in reply but just missed out. However, skipper Ollie Avery-Wright did reduce the arrears with a penalty.

It was playmaker Shepherd who then converted his own try before prop Dan Job crashed over from a ruck, Shepherd converted for a 21-3 lead at half-time for the home side.

With it all to do Crediton started the second half in positive fashion and Josh Woodland went over for a try out wide.

Two penalties for St Austell, the second resulted in a yellow card for Ben Wonnacott.

Ewudzi then grabbed his second try with Shepherd converting.

The final word went to Josh Pearce who shot over for a try converted by Ollie Avery-Wright.

The top of the table has seen Crediton and St Austell swap places and they now have a two point advantage.

However, coach Stu Lowe regards this result as a setback, but not a disaster, we are barely half way through the season and we move forward to the next challenge. This is as high as we have ever been in the league structure since the leagues began in 1987.

St Austell took their chances whilst we did not take all of ours and they punished Crediton for their errors.

Crediton look forward to the return game later in the season.

Record blasted

Crediton Quins 36 - OPM First 8

Old Plymothian and Mannamedians (OPM) arrived at Blagdon with a 100 per cent record to defend and maintain, as they sat at the top of the league. However, they too came unstuck at the hands of the Quins whose defence was simply outstanding.

Crediton dominated territory and possession throughout the first half but OPM’s were not easy to break down.

Crediton players were pretty dominant in the scrum but for all their territory and possession it took 28 minutes to get the scoreboard moving when skipper Chris Hooper forced his way over for a 5-0 lead.

In all this time, the visitors had not posed any threat in Crediton’s “22” and right on half-time it was fullback Freddie Borthen whose mazey run took him past several defenders before offloading to flanker Sam Rowe who did the rest for a 10-0 interval lead.

Early in the second half, it was Hooper on the scoresheet again with a catch and drive try which Tom Ronchetti converted.

OPM were in real danger of being overrun and they did force their way back into the game with a try after putting pressure on the home line.

They began to gain some momentum and Crediton’s defence was tested to stretching point at times but once the players settled back into their rhythm they began to get on top again.

Pressure in the OPM “22” and patience in the build up led to a try for scrum-half Joe Dodge, which Ronchetti converted.

Then came two tries which would be contenders for try of the season, firstly, Bobby Jenkin with a 50 metre touchline sprint, evading several tackles before touching down in the corner.

Tom Ronchetti landed the difficult conversion. In the final minute, centre Aiden Davies intercepted a pass out on the 10 metre line and went 60 metres outpacing the covering defence to score at the posts, Ronchetti adding the extras.

This was a quality performance against a side that were not at the top of the league for no reason.

Crediton has moved up to second place and closed the gap on OPM to four points with a game.

Crediton Thirds 0 -

Barnstaple Thirds 57

Not a lot that can be said really. As always the Thirds battled away courageously against a much bigger and far more experienced Barnstaple side.

However, there is much pride in the fact that the club seems to buck the trend where so many clubs are struggling for numbers and cannot seem to fulfil Second XV fixtures.

Crediton had 26 players available for the Thirds when the Seconds also had a full five man bench.

Crediton must be doing something right.

Newton Abbot Colts 26 - Crediton Colts 15

The Colts lost out in their opening cup match at Newton Abbot.

With a number of players injured and generally not available it was nonetheless a disappointing result.

Crediton are not out of it though and will have other opportunities to get themselves back into the competition and hopefully, more players will be available.

For the record. Charlie Clark, Brady May and Tariq Sayers each scored a try.

Fixtures

Tonight, Thursday, November 17 the Seconds are at home against Exeter Athletic in a rescheduled league fixture on the river pitch 7pm.

Saturday, November 19 the Firsts are away at Devonport in the Devon Senior Cup.

There is no game for the Thirds or Colts.

Paul Harris