The usual full blooded, enthralling encounters of recent seasons gave way to a lacklustre performance admittedly in blustery conditions at the Imperial ground.

Exmouth opened the game all guns blazing! There were just two minutes on the clock when Dave Bargent finished off a move that saw the Cockles sweep the ball right then left across the pitch, Bargent stopped just metres out was then quickly on hand to receive the ball and crash over. The George Meadows conversion from out wide made the distance, but bounced off the far up right.

Almost 30 minutes of rugby produced little to inspire a healthy crowd, all too often kicks were wayward, passes dropped or the ball lost in contact by both sides.

Newton levelled things up with an unconverted try out wide as the Cockles defence was sucked in. Minutes later a Meadows penalty nudged the Cockles back in front.

Missed opportunities went begging for both sides the half-time whistle greeted warmly by both sides.