Exmouth 58 - 14 Ivybridge

This was Ivybridge’s first visit to the Imperial Ground for over 2 seasons, and Exmouth were determined to make sure their trip back down the A38 was uncomfortable!

The Exmouth side were soon on the scoresheet and a finely struck penalty by Ed Kirk gave them a lead after only 2 minutes. The Cockles increased their lead further when a swift flowing three quarter move put Dean Chisling over in the corner, the touchline conversion went wide.

The Exmouth pack were gaining dominance and after 10 minutes Stuart Lowe crashed over the line near the posts which was converted by Kirk. There were passages of good interplay between forwards and backs and following one of these phases, Dean Davis broke through the Ivybridge defence to offload to Kirk for him to score under the posts, kicking his own conversion.

With most of the possession now in Exmouth’s hands, it was down to Dave McCarthy to further increase the lead on the stroke of the half hour with a fine solo run down the touchline from the Ivybridge 10 metre line to go over in the corner, with Kirk kicking the difficult conversion.

Straight from the kick off, Exmouth went further ahead with a try by Rich Haynes. From a quick line out by Stuart Lowe and Tony Emmins, the ball was sped wide for Haynes to go over in the corner, this was not converted. Just on half time, Jamie Blewitt scored a converted try in the corner, giving the Cockles a 41-0 lead.

The second half started much the same way with a further try by Lowe. This was a fine touchline run with him having stolen the ball from the Ivybridge winger on the halfway line to run half the length of the field to score in the corner.

Ivybridge then cam back at Exmouth and some sloppy defensive play allowed them in for a converted try after 10 minutes. The home team continued to play some fine rugby and following a long kick down field by the Ivybridge backs, full back Dean Chisling broke from just outside his own 22 and ran to the opposing 22 before offloading for Paul Burder to score in the corner.

On the half hour, the Cockles final try came from second row Andy Melbourne who bulldozed his way through the Ivybridge defence to score under the posts, Kirk adding the extra points.l

The final score went to Ivybridge with a further converted try just on time.

This was a good all round performance by the team in front of a large home crowd who enjoyed the fast flowing rugby.