Herald Express (Newton & Teign Edition)
No mercy for Okehampton as Brixham thrash visitors
BRIXHAM showed ailing Okehampton no mercy at they piled-up an 88-12 win over the One South West One strugglers at Astley Park.
The Fishermen are now guaranteed a top-four finish in the final table behind promoted Devonport Services, second-placed Barnstaple and Chew Valley, who appear nailed-on for third spot.
Teenage hooker Harry Rodwell was the man of the moment for Brixham with a try hat-trick as the points just kept on coming.
“Harry has had a great first season with us – and his hat-trick showed what a talented player he is,” said Adam Thomas, the Brixham coach.
Rodwell’s try was the first of seven in the first half as Brixham went 45-0 up. Jamie Hext scored the second, Matt Crosscombe crossed twice from his new berth in the back row, Ricky Workman bagged a brace and Rodwell had his second on the whistle.
Crosscombe, normally a winger, has played the last two games in the forward pack and carried on scoring tries in his usual manner.
“You don’t get many opportunities to try things out in realistic situations now, but with nothing on this game for us it was a chance to look at options for the future,” said Thomas.
Okehampton did pull a try back early in the second half, but after that it was one-way traffic in the other direction! By the time Okehampton scored their second try. Brixham were in the 80s.
Joel Ashworth, Rodwell, Mitch Pinkus, JP Simonetti (two) and Nathan Reeves all got on the scoresheet for Brixham in the second half.
There is rugby action at Astley Park this Friday when Brixham U21s face-off against Torquay Athletic U21s for the Reg Brewer Cup.
The competition remembers the late, former Devon RFU president Reg Brewer, who was a popular figure at both clubs.
had a day to forget at Cullompton, where they went 10 points down in as many minutes and lost the game 37-17.
The prospect of a real hammering was on the cards at half time as Teignmouth turned around 30-5 down after a buffeting from windassisted Cully.
Teignmouth moved-up several gears in the second half and actually outscored Cullompton two tries to one. The damage had already been done through and the Teignmouth management were left to ponder how a team that had only lost by a point last time out to high-flying Crediton could come unstuck so badly?
Prop Kevin Davies wriggled over for Cullompton’s first try with just two minutes gone on the watch. Josh Luxon converted then added two
Teignmouth
penalties for a 13-0 lead. Luxon did not miss a kick all afternoon.
Flanker Jack Grandfield was next over the line for Cullompton. Luxon took care of the extras and another penalty.
Teignmouth belatedly got on the board on 29 minutes courtesy of Jack Bowen.
Luxon wrapped-up the first half by claiming the bonus-point try for Cullompton then kicking the conversion.
The second half was more of a contest as Teignmouth had the wind behind them. Pete Bilham’s try made a dent in the deficit. Jack Mayne converted.
Sam Cooke in Cullompton’ second row claimed his maiden try for the first XV midway through the half.
The last act of the match came in stoppage time when Bowen got over for Teignmouth’s second try.
Despite declining a conversion kick to save time, the clock ran down before the Teigns could rustle-up a bonus-point try.
Skipper Charlie Dore scored a hattrick of tries for in a fast-and-furious encounter with Two South West champs-elect Sidmouth.
Sidmouth emerged 64-26 winners over the All Whites to claim their 20th victory in 21 games played.
Newton Abbot fully contributed to an entertaining game and picked up a valuable bonus point late on when Dore was smuggled over from a lineout for his side’s fourth try.
In the battle to dodge relegation from South West Two every point is
Newton Abbot
vital towards keeping Newton Abbot ahead of Chard and out of the bottom two.
“Chard have to win at Wadebridge in the last game of the season to overtake us,” said Chris Thomas, Newton Abbot’s team manager.
Newton were largely second best in the first half and trailed 33-0 before Dore scored the first of his three tries and Jay Barnes added the conversion.
“We didn’t have a great first half, but did really well in the second and had some great areas of play,” said Thomas. Albert Dowse scored Newton’s second try then Dore got two in a row. Barnes kicked two more goals.
Thomas said he was impressed by Sidmouth – ‘nothing flashy, but a strong skill set’ – but preferred to focus on his own team and coaching input from Exeter Chiefs’ prop Billy Keast. “Billy has been with us for a month or two and it’s really starting to show,” said Thomas.
Torquay Athletic Extras
went down 32-21 away to Plympton Victoria in Devon Two.
It was Plym Vic’s first win over the Tics’ second team, who had beaten them 66-21 away. Ben Sharples, Joe Widdecombe and Nigel East scored converted tries for Torquay II.
Jayson Cleverley scored two tries for Plym Vic, with Jordan Blair and Chris Barratt also touching down. Barratt also kicked three conversions and two penalties.
filled an unexpected blank Saturday on the fixture list by arranging a friendly against Brixham Crusaders.