Kingsbridge 12 - 22 Exmouth

A difficult fixture for the Cockles this week against a rejuvenated and resilient Kingsbridge Team.  From the kick off it was clear that Kingsbridge wanted to dispel the demons of the previous weekend and the Cockles were unfortunately left in the blocks.  A series of basic handling errors and failure to clear the lines left the Cockles firmly encamped in their own 22 for the early stages of the game.  To their credit they soaked up a considerable amount of pressure and eventually from the boot of Nielsen moved into the Kingsbridge half.

A short spell of rare pressure saw a courageous charge down from Aaron Conway resulting in the first try; somewhat against the run of play after 15 mins.  Unfortunately, rather than waking the team and seizing the moment they lost concentration direct from the restart.  With confusion reining nobody took responsibility to claim the ball leaving it to bounce, which was gathered up by an alert Kingsbridge team who ran the ball over for the equalising try in the 17th min.

Kingsbridge having now firmly seized the initiative drove hard at the Cockles pack continually winning uncontested ball which resulted in the second try in the 20th min, which was converted.

 
The second half demonstrated what this squad is all about.  Still not playing technically good rugby they worked hard and started to take control of areas of the game which gave the backs some room to work in.  The equalising try came from some slick offloading in contact resulting in Simon Hartery out pacing the opposing quarter backs to place the ball down in the 30th min.

Now firmly in the ascendency the superior fitness and strength started to show and not long after his first try Hartery drove over for his second try and the Cockles 3rd.  With a much more settled and functioning pack the backs started to expand their game and began to pull Kingsbridge around the pitch.  The final try came when Bradley Nielsen popped an accurate cross field kick for Olli Sims to run on to, being stopped just short of the try line.  Now with relentless pressure on the 5 mtr line Kingsbridge committed a foul as Conway whilst just about to touch down for his second try was pushed off the ball.  Nielsen converted the penalty try.

A difficult and disjointed performance but a well earned win in the end.  Well done all.