Bournemouth brought their unbeaten, table topping position to the Imperial Ground and walked away intact with a 13-30 win. The visitors struck first through Scott Chislett with an unconverted try on 8 minutes. The early exchanges were pretty even but as expected a real physical encounter, the Cockles losing scrum-half Matt Ryan to a broken arm. This caused a re shuffle with Lloyd Watkins moving in to scrum-half Dave Bargent moving to centre and James Harris making a return to the back row. Both teams had a man down during a game with big hits throughout. The action went from end to end for the next 15 minutes. Eventually the Bournemouth defence was split wide by Dave Bargent who cantered in between the posts, Tom Whelan stepped up to slot the extras, 7-5. Exmouth worked to cement their lead although the penalty count seemed to be against them until Whelan converted a rare penalty to the hosts on 26 minutes to take the lead 5-10. Closing in on the break, Bournemouth struck next with a try through No. 10 Adam Davies, converted by Grant Hiscox. 10-12. The final few minutes to half-time indicated that this game was on a knife edge.

The huge Bournemouth forward pack was more abrasive at breakdown time and this would be a challenge throughout the second halt. Tome Whelan struck another penalty on 52 minutes, swinging the lead back to the Cockles 13-12. At this point the large local support was impressed with the quality of rugby against the clear league leaders. That penalty count resurfaced and over a 12 minutes spell Adam Davies kicked two attempts to recover for Bournemouth. 13-18, with 13 minutes to finish out the game. What happened next indicated why the visitors are leading the way in the South West Premier League. They lifted their game with real physical intent; great off-loads and vision to create space in the corners. Tries from Dan Stuart and Grant Hiscox, one converted by Adam Davies closed the game to 13-30. Far from tiring, as Exmouth did from their endeavor, Bournemouth to a man, upped their tempo. Congratulations go to Bournemouth who look good value for a potential promotion.

The Cockles will ponder on a day when they played some of their best rugby, were in contention until the final stages of the game but came away with nothing to show for their great work from 1 to 18. On to a trip to Bracknell next week, that will provide an opportunity to bounce back after a big training week.

Under the watchful eye of the annual Vice Presidents Luncheon, Dave Bargent, sponsored by Stuart Line Cruises was voted as Exmouth Man of the Match by a select group of VP’s.