Withies Suffer Against Sarries

It wasn’t to be at a windy Raleigh Park

Withies slipped to defeat at home this weekend after an error-strewn afternoon cost the side against Exeter Saracens.

With a strong wind blowing up field, it was always going to be used as a tool for some effective attack. 

Exeter, who had this blustery advantage in the first half, quickly used it’s benefits to make some early territorial gains. These gains soon became points as the visitors opened the scoring in the corner after just three minutes.

Withies issued an immediate response however, and just three minutes later, Luke Pattison piled over the line to level the scores after just 6 minutes. 

Sarries soon retook the lead through two penalties. Keen to get back into the game, Withy upped the pace, but in doing so, the number of handling errors increased too, handing back the ball to the opposition, ultimately leading to two further tries for Sarries before the break making the half time score 07-25. 

With a big response needed in the second half, Withy came out the blocks flying and with just 46 seconds on the clock, Withy Scrum Half, Alex Peterson had broken free of the defensive line and scored. Fresh from the score, the boys were fired up and were soon pressuring inside Exeter’s 22’. With the Sarries attempting to clear their lines; a clearing kick from behind the try line was charged down, and with the receiving defender dropping the ball, a golden opportunity presented itself to Liam Daniels who pounced on the ball to score. Tom Cooke’s conversion brought the points deficit back to just four points, the score now at 21-25 after 47 minutes. 

This, unfortunately, would be the final points of the game for Withy who soon found themselves very much out of luck in countless phases of play, allowing for the visitors to capitalise on the situation and further increase the gap in the scores. 

A frustrating game finally ended with the final score Withycombe 21, Exeter Saracens 47.

Despite this, there were some good phases of play for the Withies and they can certainly look to build on this in training this coming week. 

Next week, the boys face another tough challenge as unbeaten Torquay Athletic make the journey to Raleigh Park. Kick off will be at 2:30pm