AFTER weeks off, due to bad weather and away teams cancelling, the Bude boys where in a buoyant mood about the fixture and it showed in there hard fought win, writes coach Damian Forster.

From the kick off, Bude knew they where in for a scrap, with the ball being dropped left, right and centre by both teams and the referee not helping matters!

After good pressure by Bude on the big Bideford lads and some scrappy play on the floor by Chunky Merrifield putting his body on the line again, the ball found its way to fly half Sam Gilhespy who drew his man to offload to speed machine Ryan Butler who bashed his way over the line to score the first of the Bude tries.

They put Bideford on the back foot again after the kick off Luke Wilson acting pack leader for the day was leading from the front and carrying the ball very well smashing people aside, after a phew phases Jobe Harris took control on the right wing and sprinted home to score. Bideford hit back just before half time with a converted try.

The second half began with Bideford on the front foot that was until Olly Barkwell produced the tackle of the day with a huge dump on the Bideford winger. From this the ball was in midfield where it found its way to Mark (Cornish and proud you) Beckers who scored under the posts. Sam converted.

With Bude now firing on all cylinders Beckers once again opened his legs and blew away chasing Bideford defenders. Bideford hit back once and then again to make it 24 all with one minute left.

Sam charged up to halfway and smashed a kick long into the Bideford half where the flying Ryan Butler gathered and smashed home to win Bude the game.

Bude: Luke Wilson, Chunky Merrifield, Dave Biggins, Jean-Paul Coe, Joe Ruddman, Theo Davey, Tom Dell, Mike Glew, Harry Savage, Joe Furber, Mark Page, Sam Gilhespy, Ryan Butler, Mark Beckers, Dick Pearce and Jobe Harris.