Teams 
Tries: Joey Faulkner, Jack Balsdon, Louis Atkinson
Conversions: Louis Atkinson (3)
MOM -Ned Pettifer
The Chiefs were on the road again this week, travelling to face Exeter Saracens, who were in fine form and had strengthened their squad with some new faces. It was always going to be a huge challenge for Bideford, and what followed was a bruising encounter full of drama, determination and no shortage of adversity.
Unfortunately, the game was disrupted by two freakish injuries. First, Ash Crouch was forced off with a neck injury and later attended hospital with a suspected fracture. Then Pauly Thomas suffered an ankle injury, which was subsequently diagnosed as a fracture.
With two players unavailable, the game moved to passive scrums. It was certainly not how Biddy would have wanted to play, but sometimes you simply have to deal with the cards you are dealt. There was also some confusion over the number of players Bideford were required to take off the pitch. Initially asked to drop an additional player, the Chiefs played with 13 men for five minutes before it was clarified that they should have 14 players on the field.
By this point, Biddy were already trailing 15-0, and the coaches were facing a real challenge. With Sam Bola already on the bench after recovering from a bug and two more players out through injury, the message was clear: damage limitation. Defend, defend and defend.
But Joey Faulkner had other ideas.
A quick tap penalty just outside the 22 caught the Sarries defence sleeping, and Faulkner spotted the opportunity, darting through to score and give the Chiefs a much-needed lifeline.
Biddy then somehow worked the ball back into the Sarries half. A box-kick clearance found Faulkner, who produced a lovely floated pass to Jack Balsdon. Left unmarked, Balsdon gathered the ball and crossed under the posts, with Louis Atkinson adding the conversion.
Sarries responded with a penalty to make it 18-14, and the Chiefs were desperately looking for the half-time whistle after an enormous defensive effort.
But there was still time for one more twist.
Louis Atkinson took a risk on an advantage play and produced a superb dummy, fooling two defenders before bursting through to score under the posts. He added the conversion himself, completing an extraordinary turnaround and sending Bideford into the break with a 21-18 lead.
Having been 15-0 down, suffered two serious injuries and spent much of the first half defending, the Chiefs had somehow turned the game around.
The second half was a much quieter affair in terms of tries and points, with Exeter Saracens managing to score the only points after the break. That proved decisive, as the hosts edged ahead to claim a narrow 23-21 victory.
Despite the disappointment of coming away without the win, the Chiefs can take enormous pride in their performance. The lads gave absolutely everything on what was an incredibly tough day. There were battered bodies everywhere, and players were quite literally crawling off the pitch having emptied every last drop of energy from the tank.
It was a brutally physical encounter, made all the harder by the injuries and the disruption to the game. While the result didn’t go Bideford’s way, the determination, resilience and team spirit shown by the players were there for all to see.
There will undoubtedly be plenty of sore bodies in the coming days, but thanks to the RFU postponing the leagues, the Chiefs are back on the road again next week, travelling to Withycombe.
After a performance like this, the lads have certainly earned a rest before taking on their next challenge.
Bideford Quins – Torrington
Tries: Billy Williams Rice x3, Billy Teape, Max Walker, Mark Schofield, Ollie Heddon
Conversions: Freddy Palmer x3, Mark Schofield x1
Man of the Match: Billy Williams Rice
Bideford Quins hosted local rivals Torrington and came away with a valuable bonus-point victory — their first points of the league campaign.
To be fair, Biddy started the livelier of the two sides. A penalty was kicked into the corner by skipper Freddy Palmer, and a great lineout move allowed the backs to produce a lovely attacking move, with some risky but effective offloading. This resulted in Billy Williams Rice crossing for his first try of the day, converted by Freddy Palmer. 7–0 Biddy.
Billy Williams Rice was quick to grab his second try. Torrington fired a clearance kick, which was taken deep by Mark Schofield. He then floated the ball to Billy, who went on a great run before scoring under the posts. Freddy Palmer converted to make it 14–0 to Biddy.
Bideford continued to press, and it was Billy Teape who ran the ball in out wide after some decent forward work up the middle, taking the score to 19–0.
Torry struck back with a decent blindside move to make it 19–5.
After half-time, Torry came out fighting and scored a second try, making it 19–10 to Biddy.
Max Walker then produced a lovely run up the wing to score right under the posts. Further tries from Mark Schofield, Ollie Heddon and a hat-trick try from Billy Williams Rice put the game out of reach and secured a valuable bonus-point win for Bideford.
A special shout-out to Shaps and his team of unavailable players, Harry Bloodworth, Ben Short and Sam Olde, for helping out with the line, water bottles and kicking tee!
Well done, Biddy!
Five Tries Earn Colts Victory in Barnstaple Classic
Bideford Colts 29–29 Barnstaple Colts
Tries: George Morris, Darlton Roy-George, George Herridge, Oli Cornish x2
Conversions: Finn Booth, Charlie Atkinson
MOM – Darlton Roy -George
The Bideford Colts were pushed right to the edge in what was a fantastic showcase of North Devon rugby, with both sides leaving absolutely nothing on the pitch in a high-scoring, high-tempo encounter.
The game had everything you could ask for, great tackling, powerful running, fantastic set plays and two teams determined to play rugby at pace. In the end, the scores were locked at 29-29, but Bideford took the spoils by virtue of having scored five tries to Barnstaple’s four.
Bideford opened the scoring after the forwards had done the hard work, rumbling their way up the field. From a lineout, the Biddy maul was pulled down and the pick-and-drive game followed. George Morris powered over the line for the opening try, with Finn Booth adding the conversion.
Barnstaple hit straight back, scoring from a fortunate bounce and converting to level the scores.
Biddy thought they had added a second try when Charlie Corner crossed the line following another strong pick-and-drive movement, but the referee ruled that he was not in a position to score.
Barnstaple then worked their way into the Bideford half and created an excellent opportunity out wide following a midfield ruck. Their backs were looking dangerous whenever they got the ball and were beginning to cause problems for the Biddy defence.
Unfortunately, Bideford suffered a worrying injury when John Davenport took a heavy knock to the knee and had to be carried from the pitch.
A huge thank you must go to Barnstaple for their support at this point. They welcomed John and the Bideford team into their physio room and did everything they could to help and comfort him. It was a brilliant display of sportsmanship and exactly what rugby should be about.
From the resulting kick-off, Finn Booth launched a huge kick which Charlie Atkinson gathered before releasing Darlton Roy-George, who hit back immediately for Bideford. Atkinson added the conversion.
Barnstaple responded once again, and Bideford will be disappointed with their tackling for the try that followed.
Biddy then made changes midway through the first half, bringing on the forwards in like-for-like positional changes. The move paid dividends, with the Bideford pack producing a dominant performance and getting the upper hand over their Barnstaple counterparts.
Out wide, however, the Barum backs were winning their own battle and continued to threaten whenever they had possession.
Barnstaple added a penalty before the break, leaving the scores finely poised as the teams headed into half-time.
Bideford came out strongly after the restart and George Herridge, who was having an outstanding game, powered over from close range to give Biddy another boost and keep them firmly in the contest.
Another powerful carry from Herridge caught Barum on the back foot. Oli Cornish spotted the opportunity, picked up and went, showing some lovely footwork to get himself over the line.
Cornish wasn’t finished there.
He claimed his second try of the afternoon as Bideford continued to attack with real purpose, and suddenly the Colts were right in the mix in what had become an extraordinary contest.
Barum refused to go away, though, and came back once again with a try. It was a huge call from the referee, but the resulting conversion was missed — leaving the scores tied at 29-29.
With neither side able to break the deadlock, the final whistle confirmed a draw on the scoreboard.
But the Colts had the crucial advantage 5 trys to 4
What a game.
Two excellent teams went toe-to-toe for the full 80 minutes, throwing everything they had into an entertaining, high-quality contest. The crowd were treated to a fantastic spectacle and, hopefully, it was another reminder of the quality of rugby being played here in North Devon.
For the Colts, it was a deserved reward for their attacking ambition, their willingness to keep going when Barnstaple repeatedly hit back, and their ability to find a way to win even when the scoreboard couldn’t separate the two sides.
29-29 on the scoreboard. Five tries to four. Biddy take the win.
A brilliant advert for North Devon rugby.
U8s hosted Torrington for their first game of the season. Bideford had 3 teams of 5, Torrington had 1 team of 6.
All teams played 3 x matches, some excellent rugby on display from all teams.
Thanks to everyone involved
Bideford U11s made the trip down to Crediton. Having played the Shebbear featival the day before, the U11s showed their strength in depth by rotating their team and taking 15 down to Crediton (whilst being able to rest 12 players who played Saturday). Crediton made a fast start with the slope in their favour in the first half scoring 5 tries in the first 5 minutes with Bideford unable to respond. But after shaking off the summer rust they started to get back into their swing and began dominating the breakdown making it to half time 7 tries to 3 down. After an inspirational team talk from the sole coach on the day, Bideford came out firing in the second half and eventually snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with some late try’s to win 11 try’s to 8. In his first game for Bideford Jenson had a fine game, as did Harry Watts who carried hard all day making a huge number of meters and Casper Brown who played his best game yet for Bideford. Well done to all Involved for playing hard for the full 40 minutes and not giving up early in the game when it looked like they could have been steamrolled.
Bideford U12s exact revenge against Crediton!
Bideford took on Crediton at HQ today looking to overturn the loss inflicted last year at home.
It appears the boys missed smashing things over the summer as We came out of the blocks firing and quickly found ourselves 2 tries up thanks to some aggressive pick and carries.
Crediton to their credit (pun intended) responded well as we knew they would and came back with 2 tries of their own to tie the first quarter.
Into the 2nd quarter and Bideford really got into their stride both sides of the ball with some great hits in defence and some lovely passing rugby and scored a further 2 tries whilst shutting Crediton out.
The 3rd quarter was a proper arm wrestle and,as some legs begin to tire, the Bideford defence was stretched and Crediton scored 2 unanswered tries with some lovely coast to coast runs.
With the score at 4 a piece the players responded brilliantly to the coaches pep talk and came out in the 4th quarter with the same intensity as they started the game and ended up scoring 2 unanswered tries to take the game 6-4.
The team played brilliantly, upping the intensity and physicality and, whilst there is some some bits to work on, the players were very happy to right some wrongs from last year.
Try scorers:
Carter Pengilly x 2
Matthew Welton x 2
Archie Allan
Freddie Weston
