Within the first two minutes it looked as though Cullompton were in the clutches of an invincible machine. Truro’s starting dropout goes out in bonfire corner; Cully lineout throw not straight; Truro scrum; quick hands to full back Harvey Bell for try in opposite corner; standoff Ashley Hosking converts for 0-7. Cully supporters in the grandstand who entertained thoughts of a route were quickly shamed by the terrier like response of their side who quickly regained possession after the restart, dogged their way upfield with uncompromising forward play and drew the penalty thirty metres out which centre Adam Pearce slotted into a stiff breeze for 3-7

Cullompton continued to have the best of the play and in the sixteenth minute winger Sam Budgett was on the end of a good string of passes to score in the corner. Pearce narrowly missed the conversion but made no mistake when hooker Chris Grant got over with a pick and go effort after sustained forward pressure had extended play well into overtime for 15-7 at the break

The match should have been Cullompton’s to win in the second half as they had the wind at their backs, referee Richard Steggall had provided a level playing field, their lineout had gone well and a rehashed front row on fifty minutes with Kevin Davis at hooker and Grant and replacement Martin Keywood propping, started to push back the visitors. Cullompton however kicked with the wind very little and Truro were able to maintain a minimal presence in defence with most of their backs coming into the attacking line. The visitors moved the ball wide at every opportunity to exploit the pace of their backs and of their playmaker ten Hosking and with Cully falling off of a few tackles, they turned around the game with four second half tries and one conversion with only a solitary Pearce penalty in reply for 18-29

Hosking was the architect of the victory with quick breaks dispatching both his wingers, Luke Tidball and Matt Cross into the corners; he opened up the middle of the field to put flanker Ben Teasdale in between the posts but had no hand in the last score five minutes from the end when eight Ashley Riches went straight in from a five metre scrum.

Meanwhile the seconds who travelled to Bideford had more success with a 19-20 victory. Again player availability had been a problem so Cullompton had made up numbers with half a dozen Colts who according to a regular second teamer ”ran the show and won the game”. Bideford found outside centre and try scorer, Ben Tipton, a handful especially when combined with first year colt Josh Putt who was an inspirational scrum half. Not only Bideford had a job to keep up with them; so too did their team mate at ten Alex Longdon who confessed afterwards that he had never had to run as fast in his life. The Parker brothers Ryan and Tom with Ben Tucker provided the grunt in the scrum which made it a stable platform for a mini back row trifest with number eight Sam Cooke scoring one and flanker Henry Charles bagging a pair

The fact that these youngsters are not registered to play in Cully’s first team game against Torquay at Stafford Park this Saturday is a great pity for them and the club as most of the regular 1stXV will be attending Marcus Busch’s or James Nockles’ stag weekends and these Colt’s presence would have lent respectability to the team and made for compelling viewing for the supporters. In hind sight a review of player registrations before the closing date would have been a wise move.

On Sunday Cully’s U15s fought out a 19-19 draw for the Devon U15 Cup at Barnstaple. Their opponents Kingsbridge declined to share the glory so the game was replayed on Thursday evening at Crediton which was good for firebrand flanker Will Young who can now boast captaincy of another Devon Cup winning team to go with the U13s title his team won two years ago. Early on promising place kicker, Lewis Gliddon, converted pressure into points as he stroked in a thirty metre penalty for a 3-0 lead. Minutes later further pressure gave Cullompton a scrum in the Kingsbridge twenty two. “ The eight will go from the back to score” predicted Colt’s coach Kevin Walker who had come along to inspect the seed corn for his 2018 team. The nominated player, Jacob Wright ,on his way to a man of the match award, duly picked up the ball and battered his way to the line for a try converted by Gliddon.

Had centre Luke Shergold’s try, well run in just before half time, not been disallowed for a double movement, Cully would have had a decisive lead. As it was intensive Kingsbridge pressure for much of the second period kept the contest in the balance with solid defence and good tackling keeping them at bay. When supporters emerged from the cosy grandstand at the end of the game to stand in the rain and the biting wind for the awards ceremony they could better appreciate the circumstances of Kingsbridge’s late try. Another Cully score had looked in the offing as the clock ticked down and Cully pushed play towards the opposition twenty two like a pack of wolves when cold fingers failed to secure a Kingsbridge kick downfield and their centre Max Bewley scooped up the ball at speed and scored between the posts for an easily converted try. Cully held on to their three point lead to win 10-7