Argaum Pinch it at the Death

Withycombe travelled to Plymouth Argaum on Saturday afternoon looking to get back into winning ways after the previous two losses in as many weeks. Times are hard with player injuries, which means having players step up to first team and making a name for themselves. Which made this loss even harder to swallow with Argaum winning it at the death.

It only took five minutes for Withycombe to get on the scoresheet. From a Withy scrum, Captain Connor O'Shaughnessy picked from Number 8 and fed the newly returned John Parkin. The scrum half had only green in front of him as he dived over for a converted score to make it 7-0.

With much of the game being played in the middle of the park, both teams were struggling to get a foothold of the game. Bickleigh Down Road is a particularly tough place to go, and with both sides battling it out, the game could go either way. Argaum missed a shot at the posts from a penalty on the half hour mark, and that would wrap up the first half in a tense affair.

Ten minutes into the second half Argaums Al Murray kicked a penalty to bring the home side a tad closer, but the try seemed to invigorate them as just minutes later, they scored through newly returned Captain John Ireland, with Murray kicking the extras to put the home side ahead by three.

With ten minutes to go in this ding dong affair, that man John Parkin, with ball in hand, broke from the half way line. He jinnked his way all thew way to the house as he touched down under the posts to score his and Withycombes second, Sam Conway converting to make it 14-10 in Withycombes favour.

Argaum came storming back, and having been camped on Withycombes try line for much of the last five minutes, went over right at the final whistle for an unconverted score, but it was still enough for the victory as they won with a final scoreline of 15-14, and finally breaking their six game losing streak.

Next week Withycombe travel to Plymstock Albion Oaks for their final league fixture of 2017. However, there is one more game before the end of the year, the annual Boxing Day game, played between the Withycombe 1st XV and the Presidents XV. Boxing Day is always a great day for rugby fans and family alike, and is the perfect day out after the seasons festivities the previous day! Anyone wishing to play, could you please contact either club captain Neil Williams or coach Glenn Channing. To everyone else, kick off will be at midday if not otherwise stated, so come along and support, walk off the turkey and have a few drinks in the bar. See you all there!