Exmouth RFC ran out 34-21 winners over an enthusiastic Brixham RFC with an outstanding attacking display, writes Ian Harris.
The Fishermen came with intent and soon had the first score on two minutes, Joel Ashworth went over and converted his own try, 0-7. A couple of minutes later, the Cockles hit back through a lovely Jake Inglis try, completed by a stunning touchline conversion from the boot of George Meadows, kicking with a swirling stiff breeze.
It was important that the home side increased their lead with the wind, which they did with three further tries from Liam Bayley, Matt Ryan and Lewis Geran, all a mixture of crash, snipe and tricky pace. Meadows added two more swirling conversions, 26-7 at half-time.
The scrum and defensive set from Exmouth was impressive throughout, even when interchanges were made. Gareth Roebuck stepped up and slotted a penalty to increase the lead 29-7.
Then, in a six-minute period of broken play where defence slipped, Brixham hit back with two tries from Joel Ashworth and Harry Rodwell, Ashworth converting both, 29-21. Any fears of a visitors comeback were finally quashed when skipper Dave Bargent hit a lovely line from halfway to run in the final try of the afternoon, 34-21 final score.
Exmouth face a tough trip to Chew Valley this weekend.
Exmouth Quins worked hard in North Devon, however, came up against a full strength league leaders Barnstaple RFC, losing out 41-0, while the Colts defeated Plymouth Albion 52-0.
On the road, a tough day at the office for our Exmouth RFC Women. A 48-10 loss to a very youthful Plymouth University team. With some very quick early tries from Plymouth, Exmouth settled into their game and started to apply some pressure of their own resulting in an Imogen Northmore drive over the line for our first try.
With many of our squad still learning the game, the improvements showed with lots of hard tackling from both teams. The second half followed a similar pattern as the first, midway through the second forty the forwards continued pick and go, resulting in Emily Carbis scoring in the corner. Exmouth Women showed great commitment staying in the game on the fast-playing 4G artificial pitch. Forward of the day - Imogen Northmore. Back of the day - Emily Masters.
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