Teams 
This week it was nice to have a short distance to travel for the away game. With Covid taking over earlier in the week there was some changes that forced the hand but in general it was good outing and a decent game of rugby played in the right spirit of the game. After what has been a tough week the emphasis was on having fun in the game today and it was really nice to see smiles after the game coupled with the disappointment of the result.
Barnstaple definitely started the brighter of the two teams they have a very good ethos in their defensive rush something that Bideford need to get better at and something we can fix. Barnstaple hit Bideford’s line twice in quick succession but it was the spirit of the lads to just get up and get on with it that made it for me.
Bideford slowly got into the game and were hitting the ruck, turning over ball and making some decent hits. However it took too long to get into this mode and we 3 -0 down in the first half.
Some lazy tackling from the kick offs allowed Barum to get into their flow with to of their key players doing most of the damage. But again Bideford addressed this and put in a huge defensive display on their own line. Harry, Aflie, Riley and Caleb all turning over ball, not to mention Oli c, Seb Finn and Olly G literally putting their bodies on the line to stop people crossing.
Thomas and Theo again had some fantastic runs and defensively were a lot better than the lst time the two teams faced each other. A particular highlight for me was a bit of a David and Goliath moment when Barum’s big runner ran at Little George who somehow manged to get him down to the floor …… well done George! Poor Alfie was nearly at the line but a massive tackle on him into touch literally left him flat out on the floor but luckily he got up and was in good form.
Probably the best move of the game came just before Bideford scored the forwards and backs must have passed the ball about 10 times in succession and each person took the ball over the gain line making meters. It was a lovely sight to see Olly P seemed to pop up about 3 times in the move and it was great to see the smiles as they came back from that. Harry powered over from the penalty which was well deserved after the performance in attack and defence today.
If we are honest that is one of the best teams we have come up against but even with covid etc we managed to give a very good account of ourselves.
There could be so many of the guys that put their hands up for the Man of the match this week I think I could pick 3 or 4 today:
Harry for continuous battering runs and some bruising tackles
Riley for the number of steels he made in the breakdown
Seb and Olly P who both had several tackles and runs.
All in all I am going to put this one down to a huge team effort so well done to all you !!!
