Tribute Western Counties West

Ivybridge 12

A combination of missed opportunities and a strange amount of injury time played saw Kingsbridge lose the chance to record victory over local rivals Ivybridge at High House on Saturday.

Ivybridge had looked the most likely to open the scoring early in the game as they had Kingsbridge pinned back in their own 22 for much of the opening 15 minutes.

The Ivybridge forwards put the Kingsbridge pack under pressure in the set piece and the home team were forced to weather the early storm.

Thankfully the blue and white defensive line held firm and they forced their way back on to an even footing with the visitors and took pressure away from their 22. Ivybridge had a speculative attempt at a long-range penalty attempt, with the ball falling well short.

On 20 minutes possession near the half way line saw centre Ben Glover make a strong surge up to the Ivybridge 22 and when he was held up the forwards took the ball on deep into Ivybridge territory.

The resulting ruck saw play taken close to the line before the ball was moved out to the right for winger Tim Parsons to squeeze in near the corner flag to open the scoring.

Kingsbridge had a penalty attempt on the half hour but the kick went wide and they had to wait until shortly before the interval to extend their lead.

Their second try of the first half saw scrum-half Tristan Couch take possession from the forwards and, having spotted the narrowest of gaps, he wrong-footed the Ivybridge defensive line and powered off through the 22 and round the posts to touch down. The Ashley Treeby conversion gave the home side a 12-0 lead at half time.

Kingsbridge had to reshuffle their back line at the start of the second half due to the loss of Couch through injury and winger Parsons stepped into the breach with flanker Ali Hamilton moving out onto the wing.

The start of the second half saw Kingsbridge carry on where they had left off at the end of the first, but despite a number of forages deep into the Ivybridge half, they were unable to turn their superior possession into points. Too often with the line at their mercy the ball was lost or turned over and play returned back downfield.

Ivybridge now had the opportunity to reduce the deficit and they exploited an overlap wide out, with the Kingsbridge defence tied in, to score in the top corner. The conversion went narrowly wide as Kingsbridge continued to hold the lead at 12-5 with around ten minutes remaining.

Play returned back down to the Ivybridge 22 as Kingsbridge attempted to kill off the game but once again they were thwarted by the visitors' defence.

As play promptly returned to the Kingsbridge half, it was the visitors who looked the most likely to score.

With injury time ticking by the visitors were awarded a five-metre penalty and managed to force the ball over the line. The resulting simple conversion gave them a share of the spoils as the final whistle was finally sounded.

Kingsbridge try scorers were Tim Parsons and Tristan Couch, with Ashley Treeby getting a conversion. 

This weekend sees Kingsbridge travel to face Torquay in the WCW league whilst the A XV will entertain Torquay III's in the Devon Merit Table at High House at 2.30pm. The Colts XV play their final Devon Colts Merit Table Phase One fixture on the Longfield Pitch at 2pm.