Withies Edged Out in Exeter

A closely fought contest earns the boys a point on the road

A closely fought contest earns the boys a point on the road

Withy headed up the road to Exeter to play Exeter Saracens at a muddy Exhibition Fields. With the weeks’ rain making conditions underfoot difficult, this was always set to be a battle from the offset. 

Withy started the game well, defending some early attacking moves and forcing the turnover. Unfortunately, the ball was lost forward, but early signs of some impactful play were already on show. 

Despite the strong start, it was the hosts that scored first as they made use of the left wing to score after five minutes. 

Withy responded well and, before long, were awarded a penalty on the edge of the 22’. With Tom Cooke sending the ball directly through the uprights, the points gap was reduced. 

Some more quick, and well-controlled play saw Withy then take the lead after twenty minutes with Luke Pattison spotting the gap from a series of recycled rucks inside the 5m channel. 

Ten minutes of more settled play saw both sides share possession, but eventually the deadlock was broken with Sarries exploiting the same left wing to score their second try of the match. 

Withy pushed back once again and pushed their opponents back into their own half. Despite multiple efforts and consistent pressure, the boys were unable to capitalise with errors in handling and kicking. Sarries were able to repel any pressure to hold out until the half time whistle and took a 14-10 lead into the break. 

The second half saw Withy continue to work hard to reverse the half time deficit and with just a minute gone, had earned three points from the tee through Cooke. 

They hadn’t finished and, like the timeline of events in the first half, topped up their penalty with a second try of their own. 

With the penalty awarded from an Exeter deliberate knock-on on the try line, Withy were able to work quickly and released Adam Clayton down the middle of the field to score under the posts. No penalty try, but the seven points were gained nonetheless!

The close nature of the encounter continued as both sides once again equalled out their opponents’ attempts to make any real gains. On the hour mark, Exeter once again broke the stalemate to score a try and a penalty in reasonably quick succession to regain the lead. 

As you can imagine, Withy kept up the work rate to keep themselves in the game but were undone in unfortunate circumstances. With what they thought was knock-on advantage, the boys began to set up a movement out on the wing when, from behind the line of play, Sarries intercepted the pass and ran the pitch to score. 

Frustrated to now be eleven points adrift, Withy upped their tempo once again and, after just two minutes had clawed back a try with a great break from Joel Ranft. Cooke’s conversion brought the score to 31- 27, the score which went on to be the final score a couple of minutes later. 

A good shift from the boys this week who showed real fight against the conditions to come away with a hard-fought bonus point against a team with a good record at home this season. 

Thoughts now turn to the Devon Junior Cup semi final next weekend where Withy travel down to Plymouth to take on Plymouth Argaum where a home final awaits the winners…