WADEBRIDGE 28 - CREDITON 18

WADEBRIDGE extended their winning run to eight games but were given a bit of a fright from a very spirited performance from the First Fifteen’s on Saturday, February 17.

Indeed, it was not a day where fortune shone our way for, had lady luck been with us, things may well have been different.

Currently lying fourth in the table, the home side made a determined start to the game but as is usual, our defence was in fine form. It seems we have got to the stage where we take our defensive qualities for granted such is the consistent manner in which we shut down opponents.

Despite early pressure, it took them 22 minutes to get the scoreboard moving with a penalty and this after young centre Barrie Karrea had almost got clear with an interception just in the Wadebridge half and with no-one to beat, would have undoubtedly been in under the posts.

Unfortunately the referee had spotted an earlier infringement and play was brought back for the penalty.

However, within five minutes we were ahead and again it was good ball which found Karrea in space and his pace down the right took him past two defenders before cutting inside and offloading to co-centre Oli Down who raced in under the posts and added the conversion.

As the game progressed this pairing proved, more than once, just how potent an attacking force they could be.

With half-time approaching the home side regained the lead in a somewhat fortuitous manner as they broke in midfield and the final pass did appear to be distinctly forward. Nonetheless the try was given and the conversion left us three points adrift at the interval.

Wadebridge added a second penalty and try early in the second half to which we responded in equal measure with a Down penalty and his second try.

The Wadebridge try came from a driving maul and the ball was taken down the blind side for a try in the corner.

Within minutes we were back in the game with another well-worked try and again Down was again on the end of it.

Certainly it looked as though our attack had been pulled up a few yards short of the line but an offload found Down who went over leaving us in bonus point territory.

Unfortunately, Wadebridge were also looking for a bonus point and bagged a third try and converted it to move 10 points clear.

With two minutes remaining Down reduced the arrears to seven points with another penalty and hopefully we would see out the remaining half a minute or so later.

From the kick off it was a question of retaining possession for half-a-minute and then put the ball out of play and settle for the losing bonus point.

Sadly we conceded a penalty which was comfortably slotted and the bonus point was gone.

Undoubtedly this was an encouraging performance, the forwards did extremely well against a much bigger pack and the backs looked sharp at times.

Of course there is still work to be done and we certainly lacked a ball carrier to give us some ball going forward and therefore give the backs more front foot possession.

The situation gets tighter as each week passes and with Burnham more or less gone down, there are three clubs all poised on 33 points, ourselves, Paignton and Torquay, with Tiverton one point further ahead.

The simple fact is that we have still to play all three of those sides so our fate is very much in our own hands.

Paul Harris