Barnstaple 33 - 11 Exmouth

Back to league duty after their Cup win at Walcot League leaders Exmouth travelled to the fortress that is Pottington Road to play Barnstaple, newly restored to the South West 2 League following a season in the Western Counties League. Although Exmouth led briefly after the first quarter, Barnstaple controlled much of the game and took the Divisional crown off Exmouth with a display that suggested they will be in contention for promotion again this season.

The Cockles couldn’t have wished for a better start with Richard Cadywould slotting a penalty with just two minutes on the clock. Barum took it in their stride and Josh Squire responded ten minutes later with a penalty and when an Exmouth knock on gave Barnstaple a scrum within kicking distance Squire edged his side ahead with a drop goal . With twenty two minutes played Gary Hooper restored Exmouth’s lead when he picked up from the base of the scrum on the Barnstaple 22 and scored an unconverted try.

The lead was short-lived with Exmouth passing the initiative to Barum with some sloppy kicking out of the hands. A scrum on the Cockles 22 was the setup for a handling move that was finished off by Barum forward Jamie Lewis with Josh Squire converting. Exmouth messed up the restart with the ball going out on the full and within minutes Barnstaple went further ahead when Mark Galliford ploughed over in the corner for Josh Squire to convert from the touch line. Exmouth clawed their way back with a series of scrums and finally, just on half time, Richard Cadywould kicked a penalty to reduce the deficit and the half ended with Barum ahead 20pts-11.

Straight from the restart Exmouth went offside and the reliable boot of Josh Squire added another three points to the Barnstaple half time score. With a Barnstaple player confined to the sin bin Exmouth had one of their best spells of the game over the next ten minutes but they were unable to convert this into points and when a Richard Cadywould penalty missed the target the game had almost slipped beyond reach. Any hope of recovery had long since evaporated when Squires struck another drop goal to take the score to 26pts-11.With ten minutes to go it was almost inevitable that another score would come and Jamie Lewis obliged with a try right on time again converted by Josh Squire.