Western Counties West
Wellington 1st XV 15, Bude 1st XV 22

BUDE made the trip to The Athletic Ground last Saturday knowing a victory would go a long way in securing their league survival, writes Allyn Chetland.

The visitors do not tend to travel with their strongest team, but this game was an exception, as Bude brought up their strongest XV, based on a chunky and experienced pack of forwards.

It was quite obvious to all watching what tactics the visitors would use, and the tactics the Red & Blacks would need to employ to counter this threat.

The game started with the visitors on the attack, but this was easily dealt with by the home defence.

The first score of the match came via George Hodgson, who crossed for a try after a quick attack by the Red & Blacks, and Tom Hawkings made no mistake with the conversion.

Bude responded with a converted try of their own, following a period of sustained pressure on the line by their forward pack, which was only their real opportunity of the half.

The Red & Blacks bounced back and produced some fine attacking moves, but could only convert one of these chances when Hodgson scored his second try of the match wide out, following a series of quick rucks and fine passing by his team-mates.

The extra points could not be taken.

On the stroke of half-time, the Red & Blacks had a chance to extend their lead but agonisingly the penalty attempt hit the post and the chance was lost, making the half-time score 12-7 to the hosts.

Immediately from the restart, Wellington went on to the attack, once more exerting a vast amount of pressure on the visitors, but gilt-edge scoring chances came and went, as overlaps were spurned and knock-ons made with the visitors’ line at their mercy.

As the game wore on the Bude pack started to bring their experience to the fore and take a vice-like grip on the game, scoring an unconverted try to level the scores.

Both teams then traded penalties, with Hawkings on target for the Red & Blacks to take the score to 15-15.

But Wellington started to lose their composure and discipline, as winger Jamie Hayman was sent off for an act of foul play, and captain Dan Moore also had to leave the field with a nasty knee injury.

Down to 14 players the home side conceded a series of penalties, as they were dragged into an arm wrestle up front.

Bude exploited their numerical advantage to cross for a converted try, which was to be the last score of the match for 22-15.

This was a desperately disappointing result for Wellington, which now sees the fight for league survival become even more desperate.

For 55 minutes the Red & Blacks were the better and more expansive team, but they could not capitalise on this advantage, which ultimately proved to be costly.

Injuries to captain Moore and Tim Jenkinson are concerns going forward, and winger Jamie Hayman will be absent for the rest of the season following his red card.

With no game this coming weekend Wellington will be looking to re-group for their next fixture, which is away to Sidmouth on March 25.