BUDE player/coach Angus Hodges wants his side to use this Saturday’s home clash with Tavistock (2.30pm) as a ‘springboard’ for the rest of the season following last weekend’s postponement at South Molton.

By the time the North Cornwall side take to the field for the Tribute Devon and Cornwall League clash at Bencoolen Meadow, it will have been three weeks since they last played, a 22-6 victory over high-flying Plymstock Albion Oaks.

Wins for North Tawton and Pirates Amateurs at the weekend mean Bude sit eighth, although they do have a game in-hand on some of those above them.

Reflecting on Saturday’s postponement, Hodges said: “It was a bit of a shame to see it called off, but their pitch was waterlogged. After last year’s away performance against them (a 34-12 loss) it was a game which we were really excited to play in.

“I don’t think having two weeks off in a row benefits us either. We need to start building some momentum in the season, so hopefully we can start that this weekend.”

Tavistock make the trip up from West Devon desperately in need of points themselves. The Moorlanders are yet to win this term but did fare much better on Saturday, only losing 18-10 at home to leaders Truro.

With the South Molton game now pencilled in for November 30, Bude face Tavistock and then go to Topsham before a crucial pre-Christmas period where they host promotion hopefuls Torquay Athletic (December 7) before heading to Truro a week later.

After four wins and as many defeats so far, Hodges wants to see some consistency.

He said: “Although our first two home games were against the lower sides, we struggled to build on that. Hopefully we can use the Tavistock game as a good confidence booster to get ourselves in the right frame of mind and use it as a bit of a springboard for the harder games to come after that.

“Our first game against them last year we only won by two points with a penalty from the last play of the game, but in the home fixture we beat them fairly easily, but we know they’re not a side that keel over easily.

“We need to make sure we turn up and make sure we play our rugby against a team who have nothing to lose, and get the result.

“Hopefully as well we’ll have some of the key players who were unavailable for Saturday back in contention.”

Hodges has been working on Bude’s style over the last year or so, and hopes that the break won’t affect them.

He said: “It’s a psychological battle for us. Hopefully at home we’ll be fine. We need to make sure training goes smoothly and we’ll focus on something for the weekend to get the minds dialled in nice and early. Sometimes sewing that seed of doubt can be really useful to build the nerves a bit.

“The key will be to continue to build our structures and hopefully we’ll see a nice controlled game that we can produce nice and early.

“Last year Tavistock had some pretty decent backs, but hopefully we’ll be able to bully them up front a bit. And with the backs we should be able to call upon, we should be able to nullify their backs anyway.”

Elsewhere around the club on Saturday, the seconds home clash with their South Molton counterparts was called off with less than half an hour played after a Bude player suffered a serious head injury, while the ladies’ league game against Withycombe on Sunday wasn’t played due to the East Devon club being unable to raise a side.