Brixham sail home with an empty net

Topsham ground staff do well to get the top pitch ready after the heavy rain in the morning and the night before but the pitch conditions along with the wind make the game scrappy.

Tops start well and have an opportunity from a 5m line out but Brixham are smart and stand off the maul to earn a penalty from an offside. They then proceed to use their heavyweight pack to batter up the field to lay siege to Topshams line but the boys hold them out again and again.

Despite Topsham giving away 6 penalties in 10 minutes the Fishermans two attempts at the posts drift wide in the wind but Tops continual infringements in not rolling away from the ruck results in Tristan May being the fall guy to receive the yellow card.

Topsham continue to thwart the Brixham attacks and finally clear their lines to begin to claw back territory and by the time Tristan is back on the pitch Topsham are beginning to find their mojo. Brixham receive their own yellow card for a deliberate trip but the attempt at 3 points is missed and the half ends at 0-0.

The second half starts with Tops on the front foot and Zac Maclellen shows his class by breaking the line and evading 3 or 4 opponents to race through to score, the conversion is missed and the score is 5-0.

The rest of the half is mostly Topsham with Brixham defending hard, Tops forwards stretch their opponents who have slowed considerably and the backs are getting good ball. Players begin to break the gain line with the chance of a breakaway try looking odds on and from one great break by Tristan the boys set up a ruck in the middle on the 22m. They firstly stretch the defence right before switching left to enable Tarquin Kerton-Johnson to sprint in at the corner. Again the conversion is missed but 10-0 is the final score and job done.