Narrow Loss for 2nds

Topsham 2's kicked of this seasons campaign with a tough away trip to recently relegated Cullompton 3rds.

Having dropped out of the higher merit table at the end of last season, Cullompton were obviously keen to make a good start to their lower league campaign, as evidenced by them already warming up with over 90 minutes to kick off!

The game started with the home team very much on the front foot and attacking through their, quite considerable, pack. Topsham held out well with some solid scramble defence until approx. 20 minutes in when a little bit of good fortune allowed the Cully right winger to race in for the games first score. One, it is worth mentioning was met with ironic surprise from even Cullompton's own players! The try was converted.

Topsham then started to play some ball themselves with the back division really knocking on the door on the Cully defence. Matt Hansford, Robert Tait and Darren Davies were all a mere bounce of a ball or a toenail in touch from opening the scoring for the visitors. A score which finally came from Olly Scott after a good offload from Chris Jenkins following some superb attacking work from the back line.
This try was not converted.

The other play of note in the first half was Cullompton kicking an easy three point penalty after Topsham were harshly penalised for not releasing after the tackle.

The second half started much like the first with the big Cullompton pack attacking hard around the fringes and Cully were again first to cross the whitewash, taking advantage of an overlap on the right hand side after Topsham's defence had been stretched. The try was converted.

Topsham then woke up again and exerted some good pressure by playing intelligent side to side rugby. This good solid forward play eventually created a try for Eddie Roberts who finished well around the outside of several defenders to score under the posts. He converted his own score.

With merely 10 minutes to go Topsham piled on the pressure in pursuit of the winning score with a series of scrums deep inside the Cully 22, alas the defence held and Topsham were narrowly defeated by a score of 17-12.

All in all a decent first game performance against a good side. A touch of match fitness and precision lacking which ultimately cost Topsham the game, lots of positives for the remainder of the season however.

A mention in dispatches goes to Craig Hall for his stand-in front row effort, and Man of the Match is awarded to Chris Jenkins for some good attacking lines and rock hard defence.