Cullompton 2s 24 - 10 Devonport Services 2s

Cullompton2s 24-10 Devonport Services 2s

Cullompton 2s 24 - 10 Devonport Services 2s

A Services side minus 3 players that never even turned up,produced a heroic defensive display but ultimately it wasnt enough to prevent defeat.
Services started well the scrum being a solid foundation even if the referee's interpretation of binding was puzzling,From a disagreement at a scrummage Cully were penalised and after backchat were marched on another 10 metres after more backchat they were marched back a further 10m,Captain Mark Symes drilled the ball into touch and from the lineout we were awarded a penalty which Symes dispatched between the posts.Cully were reduced to 14 men when their hooker was given time in the sinbin for throwing several punches at Sean Palmer,if he saw theses punches which he must of to sin bin the question is why the red wasn't produced.
Cullompton managed a try whilst the had 14 men,but we replied just before half time when flanker Jack Norris,scored after the forwards played qiuck ruck ball and Norris beat three defenders to score converted by Symes.Full back Will Holtham was held up short of the line after a trademark mazy run.
Half time 10-10.
The halftime team talk was simple, defend like we did in the first half and we would be in with a chance of winning the game.
The second half didnt start well when second row Sean Palmer walked off the pitch and proceeded to by violently sick several times,unsurprisingly he had to be substituted and things got worse when veteran prop Tony Sibley dislocated a finger,the cullompton physio declined to put it back in,as did a few others,so sibbo did it himself then embarrassed their physio by swearing in front of her.
We then conceded a try but stuck to our game plan and had chances to score ourselves but found the home defence hard to break down,the game finished with another cully try.
Special mention must go to Oscar Flowers playing out of position on the flank,'porridge' Oats who came to watch but ended up with a bloodied head and a few lumps,after having to come on for Sean,and playing in the second row,and the defence was outstanding despite the loss.

Man of the match was Jack Norris,dick of the day was Sean Palmer for being sick and then collapsing to the ground,we reminded him that the oscars were the week before but his fall was funny to see.
There was an eventful journey on the way home made even better when we passed the Ivybridge 1st team coach.We had some liquid refreshments but they had a dry coach,some of them looked distinctly unhappy,we showed them our services badges on our shirts with pride.Hoorah!!!
Match photos can be found on the Cullompton website.