Western Counties League (West)

Bude 14

BUDE’S quest for survival in Western Counties (West) took a massive blow at fellow strugglers Crediton last Saturday as the East Devon side ran out comfortable winners.

With Tiverton leapfrogging Adam Black’s men by winning at Torquay, Bude are now third-bottom with only two games remaining, against two top-four teams, Cullompton and Devonport Services.

Bude began the game quite well but their progress was hindered by a series of handling errors and poor decision making and that profligacy resulted in them falling behind to a well struck penalty by Mark Lee.

Bude’s forwards were finding the Crediton pack a difficult proposition, but did manage to restore some order to proceedings when following a Dan Pearce kick to the corner, they mauled their way across the line with player/coach Adam Black getting the touchdown. Pearce kicked the conversion to give Bude a 7-3 lead.

This lead proved to be short lived when they lost possession in the Crediton half. Centre Matt Dayment was able to race clear of a disorganised Bude defence, and although a brave tackle by Pearce halted his progress, flanker Ed Brady was on hand to complete the score and restore Crediton’s lead.

The home backs were a constant threat and their good work took the play close to the Bude line from where second-row Mark Knott was able to take advantage of poor defending close to the ruck to force his way over for Crediton’s second try.

This lead was further increased when another break from deep by Mark Lee culminated in a try for former Exeter Chiefs flyer Jason Luff that was converted by Lee.

Salt was further rubbed into Bude’s wounds when they conceded a penalty for tackling a man without the ball and Lee’s successful kick saw the lead extended to 23-7.

Thus ending a miserable first-half for a Bude team that seemed oddly out of sorts and unable to sustain any form of consistent possession.

The second-half began as the first had ended with Bude making bad decisions and compounding this by committing error after error. Crediton were only too happy to take advantage and captain Josh Lee scrambled across the line for their bonus point try.

Bude then rallied as their forwards began to wear down their opponents, laying siege to the Crediton line from where Will Kingdon burrowed his way over for their second try. With Pearce’s successful conversion and a yellow card for Nott shortly afterwards, a comeback did seem a possibility.

But with no evidence of any other attacking ploy than a vigorous heads down forward bash, the stubborn Crediton defence could concentrate all their endeavours in getting numbers close to the visiting pack.

This one-dimensional mode of attack meant that their most potent attacking weapons, Ollie Denford and Dan Pearce, were left twiddling their thumbs while the forwards bashed their heads against a Crediton constructed brick wall.

Crediton having survived this forward assault, went down the field with another exciting back movement and consolidated their lead with a Luff penalty to finish of a disappointing day for Bude who know that they must use their Bencoolen Meadow fortress to their advantage once more next weekend when promotion-chasing Cullompton are the visitors.

Bude:

Tries: Black, Kingdon

Convs: Pearce 2

Pens: N/A