Wellington 26 - Crediton 24

THIS was probably the most disappointing performance of the season and whether the fact that there was nothing at stake hanging on the result had anything to do with the performance is debatable.

It seems that everything that could go wrong did so, the handling, which in recent games has been excellent, let us down badly. We fell off tackles, struggled to get the lineout functioning, we were less effective in the scrum all made worse by the number of penalties we conceded.

What was so frustrating was the mis-directed and dropped passes were often in situations where a score was most definitely on.

Had we done the simple things as well as in previous games this could have been a straightforward win but sometimes we have to accept that it is not our day.

Yet it all started reasonably well, early home pressure was rebuffed without too many scares and the first quarter was evenly contested.

We began to assert some authority on the game and a good handling move ended with centre Kev Dennis going over, Ollie Avery-Wright converted and we were up and running – or so we thought.

The home side were not trailing for long as five minutes later from a quick tap and go penalty they eventually went over through their No8, the conversion failed.

Things began to misfire from hereon in in, a couple of opportunities went a-begging through some wayward passing and butter fingers until the half hour mark when we attacked up the left touchline and winger Josh Woodland did what he does so well and broke tackles to score in the corner. OAW missed the difficult conversion although the “respect the kicker” campaign used throughout the game seemed to have by-passed Wellington. We reached the interval with a 12-7 lead.

Five minutes into the second half and the hosts were level. An early yellow card for Josh Goldman after a high tackle left us a man short for 10 minutes.

Wellington kicked for position and again a series of penalties ended with their second try, this time converted to bring things all square.

We continued to fumble the ball and create and then lose opportunities until the hour mark and this time the ball was spread wide without mishap and Woodland raced over for his second of the game for a 17-12 lead.

Wellington battled back and were breaking tackles and generally controlling the flow of the game, a third try came for them on 70 minutes with the conversion putting them ahead for the first time.

That lead lasted two minutes and this time we were given a penalty five metres out and a quick tap and go was held up short of the line before hooker Dan Yendell picked up and forced his way over, OAW converted despite the uneducated shouts from the touchline.

From hereon in it was a question of seeing out time and again we pressed but a penalty gave the home side an easy exit and it was time for us to defend.

We held out for a while but not without the penalty count rising and it seemed from the touchline that the inevitable was going to happen as Wellington kept the quick tap and go’s close to the posts.

With the last play of the game, they managed to get the try that brought the scores level and an easy conversion in front of the posts was never going to be missed.

Frustrating as it was, the result was never going to have a bearing on the final positions in the league table.

With one league game remaining, Truro at home on April 5, we will finish as runners-up which it has to be said is an improvement on the 2023-24 finish in fourth position.

With that in mind, perhaps the most important of the remaining games is on Saturday when we play Okehampton in the final of the Devon Senior Shield.

However, there will have to be a big improvement from last Saturday if we are to return from Okehampton with a second trophy at their expense this season.

Paul Harris