BUDE bounced back from their defeat at home to Torquay Athletic by beating Lanner 31-14 at Mount Ambrose Cricket Club.

The league leaders dominated possession and territory to earn a 17-0 advantage at half-time, and although they conceded twice to make it a contest, two scores in the final 15 minutes ensured a bonus point victory.

Player/coach Angus Hodges was unable to name key number eight Joe Wilson so played there himself while Ed Hilliam-Cooke — like Wilson — was working.

However Simon Jeffery and Joel Troke were back to bolster the pack and Jack Horwell returned on the left wing meaning plenty of reshuffling.

Lanner were playing at home for the first time since the tragic death of club stalwart Paul Matthews on December 8 but were slow out of the blocks as Bude pressed forward without creating much.

However they did go in front midway through the first-half. A penalty was kicked to the corner some 15 metres out and after Lanner looked like they were going to repel the maul, some of the Bude backs, including fly-half Steve Yates joined in and it was he who took the glory.

Their second came on the half hour mark through Williams.

A series of pick and gos eventually saw Williams crash over from a couple of metres. This time skipper Olly Denford converted.

With Hodges off receiving treatment on a neck injury, Freddie Saxton came on and made a huge difference.

Lanner had barely got close to the Bude line and conceded a third try right on half-time.

After a couple of turnovers on the Lanner try line, the ball was knocked back over the whitewash and the opportunistic Will Kingdon was there first for the easiest of tasks. The conversion was missed but Bude were 17-0 to the good.

The North Cornwall side tend to have a period where they go off the boil in matches and Lanner came back hard.

Within five minutes, the ball was worked out through the backs to full-back Liam Carlyon on halfway who then showed excellent footwork and a turn of speed to evade some poor tackling and run in to the right-hand corner. The try was converted by Adam Harris.

Lanner were soon within three points thanks to another converted effort.

More similar work in the backs played in Lewis Moyle who ran in from 20 metres.

Bude were in danger of letting slip a healthy lead but had half an hour to turn it around.

They eventually woke up close to the hour mark and grabbed a crucial fourth try when man-of-the-match Saxton received a pop pass from Angus Hodges as he flew forward and crashed his way through to run in.

With a ten-point lead Bude knew they were in control and made doubly sure on the final whistle as Yates played a wonderful 20-metre cross-kick out to the right-hand side for Rory Hodges, who was unopposed to catch the ball and stroll his way over the line.

Angus Hodges was delighted to get back to winning ways.

He said: “Coming off our second loss we were a little anxious and had to put a few things right.

“Lanner is a tough place to go and we had put pressure on ourselves to stay at the top. It was a bit better. It wasn’t the most precise or fluid game we’ve ever played but we’re still recovering from the Christmas break.

“I’m happy with the five-point win and we’re definitely getting back on track but we’re not quite there yet.

“I believe that we have more to give and the 20 minutes of poor rugby definitely shows how much progression we have to make. But overall it’s good to be back to winning again and it’s a good confidence booster for some of the bigger games to come.”

Struggling Hayle are the visitors to Bencoolen Meadow on Saturday and Hodges wants to see progression.

He said: “Hopefully we can put in a slightly better performance this week and start to look on towards Hayle away next weekend which will be one of our toughest games yet.

“Realistically we need to focus on ourselves and get back to an 80 minute performance. We’re going to look quite strenuously at our performance, not just whether we win or not.”