Exmouth Thirds 14 v Crediton Thirds 33

A BEAUTIFUL sunny day in Exmouth was the setting for the Third team to enjoy a friendly and celebrate winning the Devon Merit Table 1NE.

There is simply no stopping the Thirds and not only have we won the Merit Table but now have a home tie in the David Butt Memorial Trophy semi-final against Devonport Services Thirds.

Exmouth had a mixture of seconds and thirds but that didn't put off the mighty Kirton Thirds! Indeed it would have been a help rather than a hindrance as a tough game was needed before that semi-final.

The home forwards put in a strong performance and with some young three-quarters who didn’t lack pace, they caused us a few problems and scored a couple of well deserved converted tries.

The Thirds are never out of any contest and have bounced back from a two-score deficit before and today would be no exception.

Albeit a little scrappy in places, we dug deep and kept our heads to grind out another fantastic win!

Ben Rodd put in another strong defensive performance as he's done all season and stormed over for a try, Tom Cooper ran the team well from fly-half and scored a try and two conversions, Paul Ratchford was causing havoc for Exmouth in the loose all game and ran in a superb solo try out wide and ended up under the posts to touch down.

Ashley Bradnock came on at half time to add some grunt to the forwards a battled his way over the line to score, and quick thinking from Owen Cooper to notice a gap in the defence passed out to John Gurzynski who ran in from the half way line to score under the posts, Owen Cooper slotting two conversions.

A great mixture of experience and youth has been the backbone of our success this season and it showed again in this game with everyone putting 100 per cent in as always.

Many thanks go to our hosts Exmouth for their kind words of congratulations and another entertaining game.

Paul Harris