Exmouth fall short in Devon Cup thriller

»»EXMOUTH lost 27-24 to Devonport Services in a Devon Cup final thriller that went into extra time.

Fourteen-man Services looked to have done enough to hold on to the trophy as they had come back from 15-10 down at the break to lead 22-15 going into time added on.

A try in the corner by former Services player Jake Inglis turned it into a two-point game with a touchline conversion to come.

George Meadows made the kick look simple and sent the game into extra-time of 10 minutes each way.

The game was won and lost just before the end change when Kyle Felton got through for Services.

There was still drama to come in the second period of extra time as Services were defending a man short.

Stand-off Richard Goldsby-West had been sent off with 10 minutes to go for a dangerous tackle on Inglis.

Services took an early 7-0 lead with a try from George Pooley that Goldsby-West converted.

Tries from Jamie Clarke and Ollie Dawe, plus two kicks from Meadows put Exmouth 15-10 up at the turn.

Goldsby-West rounded-up the first half with a penalty.

Fifteen minutes into the second half Toby Knowles levelled it for Services with a line-out catch-drive try.

Services regained the lead with a Mike Rickard try that Goldsby-West converted for 22-15.

Inglis and Meadows forced the game into extra time and it stayed 22-22 until Felton took a try-scoring pass from Ethan Millard and crashed through to score the winning points.

Elsewhere, Topsham retained the Devon Intermediate Cup – See Page 39.

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