“ Disappointing times for Weston in North Devon.”

This was the archetypal game of “two halves”, but unfortunately the home side won them both. Neither side has been performing well this season but on this occasion Barnstaple got themselves a valuable win.

Weston kicked off into the teeth of a gale and driving rain and despite, as to be expected, playing the bulk of the game in their own half, turned around only 7-0 down at the interval. Petheridge missed an absolute sitter of a penalty for Barum from twenty metres after only two minutes, and the visiting forwards, who had already shown to be stronger than their opponents, defended with little discomfort for twenty five minutes. Barnstaple had been forced to replace prop forward Drew as early as the tenth minute as their pack struggled to compete, but they then did manage a score from a close range scrum, which Weston will feel aggrieved at conceding, when diminutive No. 8 Lowrie was not wrapped up firmly enough in the tackle and was able to offload to a fellow back row forward who crossed from 5 metres.

Petheridge converted. There was no further scoring and the home supporters lapsed into silence. Would a seven point lead be sufficient in the circumstances?

Perversely for Weston, the rain stopped and the wind abated on the resumption and a couple of minutes into the second half the home side managed to rumble over from a close range maul for a second converted try, a 14-0 unexpected lead and relief amongst the always noisy supporters.

The visitors then brought about their own downfall, trying to run the ball from deep and utilising fruitless little chips instead of pumping the ball to the far corner for territory and using their forwards. This gave the home side gratuitous loose possession, and from one such instance, a midfield tackle was missed and a try resulted under the sticks. 21-0 and comfort for Barum with only 15 minutes remaining.

Weston finally joined the game in the 70th. minute when from a series of close range scrums where the home side was constantly penalised, their forwards comfortably drove over from ten metres for flanker Tom Crossman, on a welcome return following injury, to get the touchdown. Young converted.

They tried to repeat the operation two minutes later but a series of messy lines-out and careless finishing yielded no further points and it was the home side that scored an opportunistic try at the death. A speculative “hail Mary” was dropped inside the Weston half. A frantic kick and rush ensued and a Barum player was credited with the score under a pile of bodies. Final score 28-7, and a most unsuccessful holiday outing to a grey and dingy North Devon. Weston had not played to their strengths against weaker forward opposition, and had got themselves involved in a match which was far more open than the conditions warranted.