Crediton 25 v Truro 10

THE final league game of the season brought the anticipated win, although it has to be said it was something of a flat performance especially after the victory at Okehampton the previous week.

For Truro of course, there was much to gain as they desperately needed something from the game in order to stave off relegation.

For us, irrespective of the result, there would have been no positional change in the league.

The game started well enough and early pressure in the Truro 22 with a series of pick and drives before giving the backs something to do. It was centre Kev Dennis who finished the move with a try out wide.

The pressure continued, but we seemed prone to some basic handling errors. Eventually on 15 minutes, Josh Davey landed a penalty for 8-0 and a second one followed ten minutes later for an 11-0 lead.

To their credit, the visitors had created a few problems for us and had a couple of scoring opportunities. They did reduce the arrears with a try when a kick chase began on half way and the bounce wrong footed our defenders, although we did scramble back to retrieve the situation and concede a five-metre scrum.

As with our opening try, Truro kept the pick-and-drives going before spreading the ball wide for the score.

The interval arrived with us holding a slender 11-5 lead and it really was anyone’s game.

We began the second half spending time in the Truro 22 and playing some patient rugby and again after several phases the ball went out to Dennis who scored his second try of the day, and Davey converted for 18-5.

The Cornishmen were never going to give up easily, and they began to dominate territory and possession for long periods, and on fifty minutes had narrowed the gap with a try out wide.

The game had been very scrappy at times, punctuated by the occasional spark of life, and one such being a tremendous break from defence by fullback Freddie Blackburn, straight up the middle before offloading to hooker Dan Yendell who went in under the posts, Ollie Avery-Wright converting.

For the remaining 10 minutes, the game just drifted away leaving the home support happy with the result but perhaps a tinge of disappointment with the performance but also fully aware that it is not easy to be at the top of your game every week.

With the season more or less done and dusted, the First XV and Quins have now finished their season, it is down to the Third XV to take centre stage at home this coming Saturday with the David Butt Memorial Trophy Semi-Final against Devonport Services Thirds. The final is scheduled for May 3 here at Blagdon.

The Vets XV will host Topsham Vets in the Wooden Spoon Vets League.

Paul Harris