Colts Show Resilience in Win at Withycombe

Chiefs

Bideford Chiefs Show Plenty of Fight Despite Tough Day at Brixham

Brixham II 64–12 Bideford Chiefs

Bideford Chiefs faced a huge challenge away at Brixham this weekend, coming up against a very strong side boosted by several players from their first team, who compete in Regional 1.

Brixham’s fly-half, full-back and prop have all featured for their first team in recent weeks, and the quality they brought to the game was clear. They were a different level altogether and proved a real test for the Chiefs throughout the afternoon.

Bideford also had to deal with a few late changes, welcoming back returning student Amaos Waters to replace the influential Fred Fishleigh. Seventeen-year-old Colts vice-captain George Herridge also stepped up when asked if he could travel, and his willingness to get involved was greatly appreciated.

Despite the scoreline, there were plenty of positives to take from the performance. It was a significant improvement on last week’s display, and the Chiefs found themselves up against a team in excellent form, having picked up maximum points in their previous five games. Brixham have clearly built a strong squad and, even without their first-team players, would have provided a formidable challenge.

Their fly-half was arguably the biggest difference between the sides. His quality was evident from start to finish, with pinpoint kicking, accurate passing and clever attacking play creating opportunity after opportunity for Brixham.

However, the Chiefs never stopped competing and produced two excellent tries of their own. Sam Picillo was first to benefit from some slick handling and superb hands across the backs, finishing off a well-worked move. Louis Atkinson added the extras with an excellent conversion from out wide.

Ollie Hedden also got himself on the scoresheet, powering his way over the try line with a determined finish to give the Chiefs another moment to celebrate.

While those were the highlights on the scoreboard, there was plenty more to be encouraged by. The lads kept working hard right to the final whistle and never allowed their heads to drop. In truth, had we produced this level of performance in our previous fixture, the result could have been very different.

Two individual performances deserve particular recognition. George Herridge had an excellent afternoon after coming off the bench at half-time, showing real confidence with some strong runs and impressive handling. For a 17-year-old stepping up into senior rugby, it was a very encouraging display.

Ned Pettifer is also quickly becoming one of the first names on the team sheet. Another consistently strong performance saw him contribute not only on the pitch but also take on more responsibility in the changing room and at half-time. His efforts were rewarded with a well-deserved third Man of the Match award.

There is no hiding from the result, but there is plenty to take forward. With encouraging and supportive words from the committee, the players and coaching team remain positive and determined to turn things around.

Onwards and upwards, Chiefs!

Quins

Bideford Quins 47–33 Exeter Athletic

Quins hosted Exeter Athletic on Saturday.

A strong performance was needed and Quins delivered. Exeter Athletic were good with ball in hand but Quins starved them of possession resulting in a great scoreline. Tries from Sam Shuttleworth, Billy Teape x 2, Jordan Taylor, Billy Cockwill, Liam Huxtable and first senior try for young Charlie Morris with Freddy Palmer converting 6 out of 7 to earn him joint Man of the Match with Adam Crouch.

A final score of 47–33 in favour of Quins gets them moving up the merit table.

Colts

Withycombe/Athletic Colts 21–43 Bideford Colts

Bideford Colts travelled to Withycombe for a non-merit table fixture. Withy having joined forces with Exeter Athletic. This was a much tougher encounter than perhaps Bideford had expected.

Bideford started brightly enough playing up the slope with decent possession and phased play / ball retention. It was clear that this was going to be a contest. Biddy struck first in the 13th minute with a bouldering effort from Devon forward Charlie Corner. Fly half Finn Booth added the extras. The combative and spirited Withy & Athletic combo dug deep and brought the scores level before half time. Seb Cackett playing the first half on the wing for Biddy was outstanding and a constant wide threat. So all squared 7–7 at the interval.

The second half brought another rollercoaster performance from the Colts. Playing superbly in phases but not taking a grip of the game to make it comfortable viewing. The Colts have to manage their game better as this blights their overall performance. Fly half Fin Potter brought a degree of maturity and kicking sensibly to gain metres or relieve pressure when needed. Linking forwards and back full back Alfie Fisher broke through to score a quality try. Cackett, now adjusted to his outside centred position brought some dominant running and added two consecutive tries early in the second half. Potter adding the extras.

Bideford surely now in the ascendancy? The Colts slackened off and allowed Withy to get back into the match. Bideford now at 21–7 began to falter. Coughing up possession, poor handling and not competing aggressively at the breakdown led to this lapse. Withy capitalised and scored back to back tries. With memories of our late downfall at Bude the week before, there was some concern that Biddy had taken their foot off the gas. The crisis deepened as penalty after penalty was awarded against the Colts.

Somehow resilience kicked in and Biddy were re-invigorated. Potter continued to strike great field positions which was capitalised on. Lock Adam Norman flopped over from close range after a period of pick and go on the Withy line. By the 70th minute Bideford were safe with further tries from Corner and Chiefs / Senior number 9, Dexter De Wreede. Potter adding more conversions.

The score flattered Bideford but they had learned how to turn the tide and show resilience.

Minis and Juniors

Under 7s and Under 8s

Bideford and South Molton’s U7s and U8s observed a 2 minute silence ahead of their fixture today.

South Molton had around 8 x U8s vs Bideford’s 15.

Both games were well contested and played in great spirit.

Lovely for the U8s to have their first ever taste of rugby on the inside pitch!

Under 7s

Under 7s played South Molton at home on the main pitch (which a lot of children was excited about as well as their sausage and chips after the game), Bideford had 13 South Molton came with 9 which set up nicely with 2 matches going on with rolling subs. Lots of tagging and lots of tries was scored. Overall a great morning for rugby.

Under 11s

U11s enjoyed a great morning of rugby at South Molton being treated to a fantastic surface on their first team pitch followed by a handsome cottage pie.

It’s always a great physical contest when we play South Molton and our whole squad of 15 selected for this fixture stepped up to the challenge. The breakdown was brutal and chaotic at times, but our team listened brilliantly to the ref and showed great discipline. The work on the attacking shape is really starting to come to fruition for this squad and it was great to see the hard work from training coming through to match day. Many players played incredibly well today but most pleasing was the way they all physically fronted up to the challenge.

Under 12s

A game of two halves.

The under 12s ran out at Kingsley for their first competitive match in 4 weeks, with Bideford lending South Molton 2 players to even up numbers and get everyone some good game time.

South Molton started quickly with some well structured and slightly more committed rugby, ending the first half 5 tries to 0.

The second half was a different affair with Bideford putting players back into their more natural positions, and the returning loaned players coming back into key positions to the benefit of the team. The second half ended 2 tries to South Molton’s 0. A big thank you to the players happy to pull on a South Molton shirt. A good run out with plenty for us to work on over the coming weeks.

Player of the match was Wilf A-C for playing a good first half for South Molton, and scoring!! And returning to the Bideford side for the second half and organising the team and also adding another try for the correct team.

Under 14s

Exeter Athletic 0–50 Bideford

U14s went to Exeter Athletic who only had 12 players so we had to lend them 3 to have a game which we went on to win 50–0. Highlight of the game was second row Donal Guerin scoring a try from 50 metres out. Man of the Match Ollie Gubb on his comeback from injury.

Under 15s

A very good win against Exeter

A great all round team performance saw under 15s beat Exeter Saracens away. Our defensive structure was superb hitting them on the gain line which led to many turnovers. In attack we either bulldozed through strong forward runs or passed the ball superbly for a combination of forward and back scores with 7 different scorers including 3 different hat tricks from George, Joe and Theo.