Exmouth 41 - 10 Ivybridge

Exmouth avenged an earlier defeat at Ivybridge with a fine display of rugby played in difficult conditions.

The Exmouth side started the game well but it took 20 minutes before they were on the scoresheet.   During this time, Exmouth exerted considerable pressure on the young Ivybridge team and were unlucky not to score on at least 2 occasions.  The first Exmouth try came from a break by Ollie Turton just inside the Ivybridge half.  He fed the ball on to Brad Perkins for Terry Mears to go over in the corner.  The touchline conversion  by Perkins fell short.  The visitors came straight back at the Cockles and were rewarded with a converted try after 30 minutes. 

Straight from the restart, Exmouth were again on the attack and when Ivybridge were caught offside, Perkins slotted over a straightforward penalty to give the Cockles the lead once again.  In the closing minutes of the half, some fine interplay between the forwards saw Jack Westlake go over for a try near the posts, and with Perkins adding the conversion this gave Exmouth a 15-7 lead at the break.

The second half started with Westlake yet again on the rampage.  He took the ball straight from the kick off and evaded several Ivybridge tacklers to take the play into the Ivybridge 22 but lost the ball in the tackle.  Within minutes, Exmouth were on the scoresheet again when after a catch and drive line-out, the ball was fed to Ollie Turton to score wide of the posts, the conversion attempt failed.

Ivybridge responded quickly with a finely struck penalty.  Exmouth kept the scoreboard ticking when a good break by scrum half Neil Hooper exhibited some good handling skills to put Seb Phelps over the line near the posts for a well taken try, Perkins adding the extras.

The forwards were dominating the Ivybridge team and it wasn’t long before a break again by Hooper who fed on to Dale Sleeman for Perkins to score a fine try wide out, the long range conversion by Perkins was successful.

In the closing minutes of the match, a second try by Turton came after a break by Sam Bull from a 5 metre scrum.  The ball fed on to Westlake and with Turton on a charge, he went over in the corner,Perkins kicking a successful conversion to give a final score Exmouth 41 Ivybridge 10