Topsham U13's 19 - 36 Exmouth U13's

Exmouth U13s made the short trip north to Topsham on Sunday and came back with a win and praise from their coach for a great performance from the whole squad. The young cockles dominated the match for all but a ten minute spell at the start of the first half with a physical performance which troubled Topsham across the field.

Topsham were unfortunate to fall behind within the first minute. Topsham Kicked off and sent the ball straight into the arms of Harry Neath Rogers who made a quick pass to Harry Sprague and he had one thing on his mind the direct route through the middle of the Topsham side who seemed reluctant to commit to tackle and Sprague scored the first try of the match under the posts, followed by a successful conversion by Ben Dawson.

The Exmouth pack were significantly larger than their hosts and this showed at the first scrum and just about every scrum which followed. The superiority in the forwards enabled Exmouth to enjoy good clean ball and they made the most of it but the Topsham Centre was dangerous with the ball in hand and it required a good defence to keep him under control. One aspect of the Cockles game which is improving week on week is their ability to retain and win ball at the breakdown and from a well executed ruck the ball was quickly spread along the line to Sprague who again was too strong for the Topsham defence and he notched up his second try. Unfortunately the usually reliable boot of Dawson failed with the conversion.

Topsham made a few penetrating runs instigated by their centre but Exmouth dealt with the threat well and a good clearance kick was not gathered cleanly by Topsham which allowed Thomas Preece to gather and make off down the left wing, he was caught a couple of metres from the try line but he was too strong and carried the tackler with him as he touched down for well deserved try.
From the restart Exmouth took the ball straight back at Topsham and Dawson ran in for the fourth try of the half and found his form again to add the extra points.

Topsham were not down hearted and continued to fight on and when an opportunity came late in the first half they were able to make the most of an interception and score their first try. A highly entertaining first half closed with the cockles leading 24 – 5.
The second half commenced as a complete reversal of the first, whether due to bolstered confidence gained by Topsham from scoring just before half time or the natural adjustment the Cockles side needed following the changes made at half time. Whatever the cause, the first fifteen minutes of the second half was all in Topsham’s favour and despite some solid defence Topsham ran in two converted tries.

Exmouth could have collapsed at that point with just five points separating the sides but with great character they used the boot to great effect to gain territory and when Dawson sent the ball high he was able to meet the Topsham player on the end of the clearance kick, steal the ball and restore a comfortable points margin. Not being satisfied with that Exmouth piled on the pressure straight from the restart and Dawson touched down again in the corner. What followed then was probably one of the longest conversion successes you will see at this age, Eddie Ford stepped up for the long kick and with a bounce of the bar added the extra two points. The match closed 36 – 19 in Exmouth favour.

This was a good performance from the U13’s not just for the score line but most particularly for the strength in character to close out a game which could have slipped away from them.