Withycombe had to settle for a losing bonus point, as they went down to an agonising 19-22 at home to South Molton 

The visitors got off to a strong start, spending plenty of time in the Withy half. This early flurry of activity soon settled down to allow both teams some time with the ball, looking equally threatening in attack as they looked solid in defence. 

The opening score would be down to whoever would make the first mistake defensively, to the joy of the home crowd, it went the Withies’ way as a lovely run from Max Rickards made plenty of ground and with the tackle coming in, Rickards handed off to Jake Prophett Oneill with expert timing to allow the second rower to score. Harry Symons’ conversion attempt was spot on. 

South Molton responded with a spell of territorial dominance and the pressure was well rewarded, as they scored two tries in just three minutes to propel themselves into the lead at 7-12. 

Exmouth Journal:

Withycombe were soon back ahead after an attempted clearing kick found the hands of the Max Rickards once again, who doubled up on his tally of precision hand-offs to allow George Toomey over the line to score. Symons added the conversion. 

Despite the Withies dominating early in the second period, they were unable to capitalise, and it would be Molton that would score again next, as they benefitted from a couple missed tackles to give them the space and win the footrace to the try line and score under the posts to regain the lead, a lead that was to be extended further with a penalty in front of the posts five minutes later.  

With a healthy eight-point advantage, South Molton regained that role of pressure makers and commanded the play for much of the remaining time on the clock. However, Withy struck late in the final minute through a great run by Danny Sansom to score in the corner and reduced the points deficit to three, earning themselves a consolatory losing bonus point. The final score: Withycombe 19 South Molton 22. 

Withy will learn from their mistakes and get ready to go again next week in the Devon Junior Cup against Plymouth-based side OPM at Raleigh, kick-off 3pm.