Western Counties Division (West)

Bude 21

Wadebridge 22

BUDE were made to pay the price for a slow start as Wadebridge held on for a 22-21 victory in the North Cornwall derby at Bencoolen Meadow.

The visitors began the game with a blaze of exciting, enterprising attacking rugby, pinning their hosts in their own half, who desperately tried to dampen the fire raging against them.

However Wadebridge did eventually open their account with a try by Matt Ballard following a series of well co-ordinated forward surges.

The try went unconverted, but with a five-point lead and looking by far the better team, Wadebridge continued to press the Bude defence and with a little more care with the final pass they may well have extended their lead.

Bude however were beginning to establish a dominance in the scrum that was to last throughout the game, and when centre Kyle Speare cleverly dispossessed a Wadebridge attacker, he was able to feed full-back Dan Pearce who elegantly waltzed his way through the Wadebridge defence to score under the posts to make the conversion of his own try an easy matter.

Surprisingly, and very much against the run of play, Bude had a 7-5 lead.

In the 20th minute Wadebridge regained the lead. A slick backs’ movement released left winger Dominic Hawkey to dash along the touchline and evade several tackles to create the opportunity for number eight Adam Blackmore to go over for the try. Danny Thomas was successful with his conversion attempt.

They increased this lead seven minutes later when another good bit of play down the left wing saw Hawkey slip a lovely offload to flanker Ian Boyling who crashed over for a fine team try. Again, Thomas was able to convert.

With a half-time lead of twelve points and looking to be well in charge of proceedings, Wadebridge seemed to have the game in their grasp, especially when Bude’s Kyle Speare was yellow carded by referee Ian Freestone for what he judged to be an illegal challenge.

Bude had, however, stiffened up their defence and despite being a player short were still able to withstand all Wadebridge’s best efforts as well as continuing to destroy the Wadebridge scrum. Outstanding in the powerful Bude forward display were stalwarts Will Kingdon, Jason Bolt and Mark Parsons, while young Tremaine Fry was a continuous source of harassment and endeavour.

This forward dominance eventually led to Bude’s second try. After several strength sapping rolling mauls close to the Wadebridge line, scrum-half Ollie Mounce was able to dart across for a score that was made into a seven pointer by Pearce’s excellent conversion.

Hopes were high amongst the Bude supporters that a home win was now possible but a penalty for Wadebridge by Thomas for offside meant that Bude now had to score nine points in a very short time for a victory.

A spirited Bude continued to attack the Wadebridge line and were eventually rewarded when Wadebridge tried to run the ball out from near their own line and lost possession, leaving Bude centre and man of the match Ed Hilliam-Cooke to force his way over for a try with what proved to be the last move of the match.

Again, Pearce kicked the conversion but all it meant was a losing bonus point for a Bude side that had battled valiantly to the very end but had in truth paid the price for early missed tackles.­­

Bude now have two weeks before their next league encounter when they take on bottom side Wellington who are just one point behind.

Next weekend they will turn their attention towards the Cornwall Cup as they head to fellow Western Counties outfit St Austell, who have won three of their nine games so far this term.

However, Bude will hope that they can finally produce an away performance to match their home results, which on the whole have been very impressive.

Bude: Bolt, Cook, Jeffrey, Kingdon, Williams, Parsons, Gregory, Fry; Mounce. Watton, Horwell, Speare, Hilliam-Cooke, Denford, Pearce,

Subs: Allin, Vincent, Black.

Tries: Pearce, Mounce, Hilliam-Cooke

Convs: Pearce 3

Wadebridge: Treleaven, Ballard, Scott, Johns, Dawe, Smith, Boyling, Blackmore; Collings, Thomas, Hawkey, Kempthorne, Hawken, Bright, Pengelly

Subs: House, Cross, Hartley.

Tries: Blackmore, Ballard, Boyling

Convs: Thomas 2

Pens: Thomas

Referee: Ian Freestone