Early Blitz!

Drybrook R.F.C 5pts
Exeter University 40pts

On a gloomy afternoon, in front of a large crowd, league leaders Exeter kicked off away from the clubhouse and deep into the Drybrook half. Sam Peaper took the ball into contact, was stripped of it by the Exeter hooker who fed his openside to score the try converted by the outside half. Forty-five seconds played and Drybrook were seven – nil down.
From the restart Exeter knocked and Drybrook were given the chance to attack from the resulting scrum.
The ball was taken forward by Ben Large and when it was recycled the Exeter defenders were penalised for being offside just outside their twenty-two. Tom Treherne was unlucky to see his kick rebound off the upright allowing Exeter to clear their lines.
The following twenty minutes were something of a blur as the pace of the Uni boys saw them run in a further three converted try’s, to lead by twenty-eight points and earn a try bonus point.

.
As if things were not bad enough Drybrook had lost their outside half George Paul to the sin bin in a case of mistaken identity. The Exeter inside centre passed the ball to his winger who knocked the ball backwards into touch. The ref bizarrely adjudged Paul to have deliberately knock the ball on and sent him to the touchline.
Another try followed and with twenty-eight minutes played Drybrook were looking down the barrel of a nightmare defeat at thirty-three points to nil down.
From this moment on however the game changed dramatically.
For the remainder of the half Drybrook tore into the opposition and were very unlucky not to get a score before the break.
The second half started and again Drybrook were on the offensive.
Exeter were forced to concede a number of penalties and lost two of their own players in the process courtesy of the ref’s yellow card.

Drybrook chose the scrum option at the penalty and attacked down the blindside. They were stopped just short of the line but Sam Peaper was on hand to pick up and drive over the line for a Drybrook try.
Despite the Drybrook team now being in dominant control the Uni boys were resilient in defending their line. The only other score to be added was when the students broke from deep in their own half at the end of the game to score a converted try.
Drybrook will reflect that had they not given their opponents such an early lead in the game that they may well have been closer than the score-line suggests.
It may sound odd after a forty-point defeat, but this was a game where Drybrook showed plenty of spirit and was a vast improvement on the game played a week earlier against Weston.
Kyle Frowen was again the stand out player for Drybrook who next week make the trip to Exmouth.

Drive on Dry!