CREDITON RUGBY CLUB NOTES
LISKEARD 0
CREDITON 57
CREDITON added to the Liskeard woes with a nine try romp at Lux Park to close the gap on the league leaders.
The young home pack was under constant pressure in the scrum which gave their backs little possession to work with.
Crediton, on the other hand, were pleased with the quality of ball that came their way. It took six minutes for the visitors to open their account when they stole a Liskeard scrum and fly-half Mark Lee used his strength and pace to touch down and then add the extras.
Ten minutes later No 8 Mark Nott grounded from a pushover try and again Lee slotted the conversion.
Three minutes later young Colts centre Ollie Down was on the end of a flowing move to score in the corner.
Down was the instigator of the next try on 26 minutes when a superb break gained ground before he shipped on to centre Chris Simpson who crashed over, Lee converting.
Shortly before the interval, Nott grabbed his second try of the game with another pushover try which Lee again converted for an interval lead of 33-0.
The home side started the second half with some renewed vigour and pinned Crediton in their own "22" for some 10 minutes but failed to make a breakthrough.
They then suffered the consequences when the visitors forced play into the home "22" and veteran prop Wayne Reed peeled off a driving maul to crash over, Lee landed the conversion.
Liskeard persevered and with some forceful play managed to create more pressure on the Crediton line but the visiting defence refused to buckle and eventually turned over possession to set up a counter attack.
A superb run from winger Matt Dayment and support play from Down ended with the latter scoring in the corner, with Lee landing a difficult conversion.
This was soon followed by some excellent handling which was finished off by winger Matt Dayment scoring in spectacular fashion.
The final try was a solo effort from full-back Rob Milton, whose touchline run from half-way, saw him score in the corner.
Crediton Seconds took a break from league action and entertained Exeter Engineers' First team at Crediton in a friendly fixture.
It soon became evident that Crediton had the advantage in the forwards but the Engineers' backs looked sharp on the counter attack.
It was forward dominance, however, which got Crediton on to the scoreboard first when following several phases of play the Engineers' defenders were all sucked in and Stuart Pickard went over for the first try of the game, adding the extras himself.
The visitors began to contest possession with a lot more aggression but it was Crediton who got the next score.
From a scrum on half-way the ball was moved swiftly through the backs and following several phases of play, Paddy Joyce ran a good line to go over for a try, Pickard converted.
A third Crediton try soon followed from a similar build up by the forwards, this time it was Phil Holmes who got on the end of the final pass to power over the line for a try and again Pickard converted.
The Engineers' turned over possession in the 'Quins "22" counter attacked at pace and following a kick ahead in behind the Crediton defence, they won race to get the touch down for a well deserved try.
The 'Quins were conceding a number of penalties and it was not long before the Engineers' capitalised.
A quickly taken tap penalty was moved wide at pace where the Engineers' created an overlap to go over in the corner for an unconverted try, making the half-time score 21-10.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first and it was not long before the 'Quins added to their score when, following a well-controlled five metres scrum, Paddy Joyce touched down for his second try of the game, Stu Pickard again adding the extras.
The physical dominance of the Crediton forwards was now beginning to have an effect on their opponents and it was Rob Leach who got the next touchdown, again as a result of forward pressure on the Engineers' line.
The final score of the game fell to the home three-quarters when clean possession from a scrum enabled them to run at the Engineers' defence and Matt Watkins ran a good line to break through and touch down, Pickartd converting making the final score 40-10.
CREDITON HORNETS 64
EXETER ENGINEERS' SECONDS 0
The Hornets also proved too powerful for their Exeter Engineers' opponents and ran in 10 tries.
Centre Scott Mills bagged five of them with his strong running to give him a remarkable eight tries in two games.
Prop Kevin Ellis touched down twice and there was one apiece for Jake Henson, Nathan Jackson and Richard Gray. Phil Anning converted seven.
Fixtures for tomorrow, Saturday, November 22: First Fifteen v OPM (home); Second Fifteen v Sidmouth (away); Third Fifteen v Morganians (home) and Colts v Okehampton (away). PH