Coney Hill 27 - 18 Exmouth

Exmouth’s long trip to Gloucester resulted in another point-less weekend in a game played in extremely testing weather conditions.

Exmouth put Coney Hill under the cosh early on which resulted in a penalty opportunity for Rich Cadywould.  The home team responded quickly and put the Exmouth defence to the test.  They were rewarded with a simple penalty for Exmouth holding on in the ruck to level the score.

Virtually straight from the kick off, Coney Hill were caught off side after some quick thinking by skipper Garry Hooper.  Cadywould took the easy points for Exmouth to retain a 6 –3 lead. 

The hosts replied with some good pressure on the Exmouth line and after Exmouth turned over good ball, a loose pass resulted in a fly hack by the Coney Hill fly half Rory Baker to touchdown near the posts, which he converted.

The Cockles began to put together some good passages of play but after another poor handling situation, Coney Hill extended their lead to 17 –6  with a converted try. Shortly after this, Exmouth lost James Finnegan to the bin over the half time period.

The second half started with a Cockles attack which saw a good three quarter move putting Tom Elliott in for a fine try in the corner, but the long range conversion in the gale force conditions, went wide.

The Cockles were restored to full strength and were eager to attack the Coney Hill line and there was no further score until the last 10 minutes of the game when Coney Hill increased their lead when Exmouth were penalised for holding on in front of their own posts.

Within minutes, the home team virtually put the game out of Exmouth’s reach when a fine catch and drive resulted in another converted try giving them a 27-11 lead.

With the clock still running, Exmouth upped their game and some good interpassing between the forwards and the backs ended with a try for flanker Tony Emmins who went over near the posts, Shaun Fayter adding the extras but the final result was not enough to get Exmouth a bonus point.

This weeks sees Exmouth in Devon Senior Cup action at Torquay kick off 2pm.