Saturday, March 23

Tribute Cornwall and Devon League

Bude 52

Plymstock Albion Oaks 7

PLAYER/COACH Angus Hodges scored a hat-trick as Bude thrashed Plymstock Albion Oaks 52-7 in a match marred by a serious injury to visiting hooker Sam Waterfield.

Hodges scored twice early on as the North Cornwall side led 19-0 at the break before they ran riot in the second-half, adding five further tries.

However, the match will be remembered for Waterfield’s injury to his neck and spine, which came about in the opening exchanges at a scrum and left the Plymstock debutant spending a couple of days in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.

The match was stopped for nearly an hour as both sides waited for the ambulance.

Once the game got back underway, a clearly shellshocked Plymstock were no match to the power of the hosts.

On 11 minutes Hodges, who was playing at number eight in the continued absence of Joe Wilson, grabbed his opening try from a pushover scrum from seven metres out.

Hodges has scored well over 25 tries this term and he added yet another five minutes later in brilliant style.

From a Plymstock scrum 40 metres out from their own line, Bude turned the ball over, allowing Hodges to fly down the left-wing, step inside the winger and get to the line. Skipper Olly Denford kicked his first conversion of the day.

Third-placed Bude were well on top against the side directly below them in the table and they added their final try before the break on 27 minutes as replacement flanker Tremaine Fry caught a lineout and was driven over from ten metres. Denford kicked the extras for a 19-0 lead, which was how it stayed till half-time.

Any hope the Devon side had of a comeback were dealt a blow within seconds of the restart as Hodges pulled off a brilliant solo effort.

Plymstock had a lineout 40 metres from their own line, but Hodges managed to nick the ball, break through the lineout, brush off the attentions of half-backs Lance Davies and Al Murray before using his pace to get to the line despite the best efforts of a couple of tacklers. Denford kicked his third successive conversion.

However, his day took a turn for the worse on 46 minutes as he and his fellow skipper were both yellow-carded by referee Lucy Smith for allegedly fighting.

However all but confirmed victory on 48 minutes as another driving maul from a lineout was finished by lock Matt Williams.

With Denford enduring ten minutes on the sideline, fly-half Will Pharo slotted the extras.

With 32 minutes remaining it was a case of how many Bude could manage and they added another three tries before the end.

On 52 minutes, young Pharo picked up a loose ball on halfway before exploiting plenty of space and eventually getting to the line despite the best efforts of left-winger Joe Brearley.

However he missed the conversion.

The Oaks themselves have enjoyed an excellent season and at one point were firmly in the promotion hunt. They got themselves on the scoreboard when flanker Pete Keanie crashed over from 20 metres after an interception led to a counter-attack.

Full-back Hayden Coles slotted the extras to make it 38-7.

On 61 minutes Bude regained their 38-point advantage as replacement James Comber made an excellent break before playing in Fry to run in for 20 metres.

Bude’s final try came seven minutes later as Comber was again the provider, setting Joel Troke away down the left-wing before Troke offloaded to winger Jack Horwell as he was being tackled to finish it off in the corner. Denford slotted his fifth successful conversion from six.

Both sides had injuries to contend with and with eight minutes remaining, after consulting with both sets of players, decided to call proceedings to a halt.

Hodges was left delighted with his side’s efforts.

He said: “It was really positive, we scored some really good tries against a side who are just a place below us.

“We weren’t expecting to win by so much so that was a really positive and even after a long, hot day, we managed to stay focused for the whole game.

“I was over the moon really with how we played and the score we put on. Even with the changes we’ve made recently in the starting line-up, we still managed to stick to our gameplan and make sure it was executed well.”

Hodges was delighted with the efforts of Pharo at fly-half and the earlier than expected return from travelling of outside-centre Kieran Sharp.

He said: “It was nice to have Kieran back but Will Pharo played really well and we saw lots of confidence from him which was really good, and he was deservedly named man-of-the-match.”

With just two games remaining, Bude remain four points behind leaders Penryn and three adrift of second-placed Honiton ahead of Saturday’s penultimate game of the season at North Devon outfit South Molton, who are safely in mid-table following promotion.

Hodges said: “They came to ours and gave us a tough game so fair play to them, we know it’ll be a challenge.

“With it being away we need to the hard work in the week to make sure we’re prepared. But there’s no reason why we shouldn’t go there and put another good performance in.”

Bude —

Denford (captain), R Hodges, Sharp, Watton, Horwell, Pharo, Mounce; Jeffery, Bolt, Allin, Williams, Kingdon, Troke, F Fry, A Hodges

Replacements: Comber, T Fry, S Yates

Tries: A Hodges 3, T Fry 2, Williams, Pharo, Horwell

Convs: Denford 5, Pharo

Pens: N/A

Bude’s man-of-the-match: Will Pharo