Exmouth 38 - 17 South Molton

Following last week’s demolition of Crediton the Exmouth U13’s were keen to maintain the early season run of good form in these warm up matches before the Cup completion gets underway next week. The visitors South Molton had narrowly beaten the Cockles on their turf last season but they were blown away in the first half and despite a partial recovery early in the second half the Cockles stamina and self belief led to an emphatic 38 -17 victory.

The opening score came as a result of Exmouth’s dominance in the Scrum and following some slick passing Luke Davis touched down in the corner. The long narrow angle was a difficult kick to take at this age and unfortunately Ben Dawson’s conversion attempt fell short. Soon after the restart South Molton had a Lineout opportunity but this was not delivered straight so Exmouth opted for another Scrum just inside the Exmouth Half, Fly Half Dawson saw an opening and with his blistering pace made a break through the middle and shrugged off the visitors tackle attempts to score under the posts making his kicking task easier and taking Exmouth to a twelve point lead.

The first of three injury replacements came when influential Luke Davis had to be assisted off the field but his replacement was new signing Zac Tucker who showed great promise in the centre. South Molton managed to get some rhythm to their game and touched down in the corner but a very good conversion attempt was just wide of the posts. This was quickly answered by Harry Sprague who used his power and ling strides to break through which again was successfully converted by Dawson.

Exmouth’s 19 – 5 half time lead was soon to be diminished by a good passage of play from the visitors resulting in two tries one of which was converted. Two more injuries followed when Hooker Blu Sandy had to leave the field under advice from the excellent first aid cover always present at junior matches at Exmouth quickly followed by his replacement Olly Cowley. With a rearranged front row and the score at 19 – 17 the game could have gone either way but following another line break by Harry Sprague, another recent signing Korbin Gillman was there in support to chalk up his first try for the Cockles. This was soon to be followed by a fine tackle from Gillman to prevent the visitors getting back into the game.

Exmouth finished with two more tries straight through the middle, one each from Dawson and Sprague both of which were converted by Dawson. Man Of The Match was awarded to Flanker Owen Tidball for his tremendous work effort which stifled almost any attempt by the visitors to get clean ball. Tidball was also singled out by the referee after the match for his ability and work rate.