Oxford Harlequins 37 - 13 Exmouth

Exmouth 21 - 32 Newton Abbot (Devon Senior Cup Quarter Final)

A twice postponed League game caught up with Exmouth when the Cockles had to make a 300 plus mile round trip to Oxford on the same weekend that they had to face Newton Abbot in the Devon Senior Cup. And what a heartache weekend it turned out to be. On Saturday it was Oxford Harlequins in the League and although the Harlequins are in the lower reaches of the table a recent win against third placed Bournemouth demonstrates that there are no really weak sides in this League. With the Cup game the following day, some changes had to be made and Exmouth took the opportunity to give Adam Bond and Brad Perkins another taste of League rugby and later in the game Colt Sean Fayter made his 1st XV debut.

The game started well enough as within minutes from the kick off Exmouth were 5pts up with a well worked try. New boy Peter Howard picked up from the base of the scrum on halfway, made good yards and with the ball passing through a number of hands Brad Perkins scored wide out. Harlequins soon hit back and over a ten minute period scored two similar catch and drive tries. Richard Cadywould reduced the arrears with a penalty struck from the Oxford 10 metre line but this was soon cancelled out by a Mark Forth penalty. Harlequins carried the 15pts-8 through the second quarter and the referee blew for half time with the game fairly poised. Within seven minutes of the half time restart Murray Daniel was sin binned and over the next ten minutes the fine balance of the game lurched heavily in Harlequins favour. With thirteen minutes played Kenny Sewell scored for Oxford and when Sean Lombard added a try five minutes later the game was all but over. Paul Morgan brought some cheer with a fine individual try late on but a pair from Oxford winger Ollie Campbell had already put the game beyond doubt.

 
By necessity changes were made on Sunday for the visit of Newton Abbot but there were still some tired legs in the Cockles camp for the quarter final of the Devon Senior Cup. Exmouth started off looking the sharper outfit with Ben Hough just missing an early penalty due to a tricky wind. From the restart John Bordass set off on one of his scorching runs to the visitors’ line and supporting Ben Hough scored a cracking try with Nick Grant converting. Within five minutes the All Whites had levelled things when the ripped open the Cockles defence and Jan Viskoper converted a Ben Rowntree try.

A Nick Grant penalty restored things minutes later but Newton Abbot missed the opportunity to take the lead when they knocked on just short of the line. The second quarter started with Jan Viskoper levelling the scores but with ten minutes to the break a Murray Daniel drive set the platform for John Bordass to score wide out to post a 15pts-10 lead. With forty minutes on the clock the turning point probably came for Newton Abbot when winger Alex Moore turned Jack Downie and sprinted in to score. Viskoper converted and at 17pts – 15 the initiative had passed to the visitors.

 
Within a minute of the restart Ben Hough restored the lead with a penalty from the Newton 10 metre line. This was the last time the Cockles had the lead as three minutes later Alex Moore was on the score sheet again and the visitors were ahead with a 22pts-18 lead. Ben Hough responded with a penalty and with thirty minutes to play it was still anybody’s game but Newton Abbot were looking the stronger side and the exertions of the Cockles were beginning to show. It was stalemate until fifteen minutes from the end when Newton Abbot scored two tries in quick succession. Exmouth threw everything they could at the All Whites in the final minutes but any last energy had probably been left on an Oxfordshire playing field.