Bideford Chiefs end long wait for win

Bideford RFC are back to winning ways after an excellent win 37-10 against Falmouth, finally getting some reward from decent performances that have not yielded the results the Chiefs have deserved. 

Bideford opened the scoring after 15 minutes with Harry Bloodworth touching down and the same man repeated the trick ten minutes later, with Matt Lewis slotting the conversion to give Bideford a 12-0 lead.

On the half-hour, Mark Schofield pushed the scoreboard further along with a drop goal from the back of a scrum and just before half-time, Bloodworth completed his hat-trick. Lewis added the conversion and the Chiefs led 22-0 at the interval.

Falmouth got a try back early in second half but Dean Folland and Pete Bowes managed further scores for Bideford. A late consolation for the visitors made the final score 37-10. 

“It was definitely our best performance for a while,” said Bideford manager Bradley Goaman. “The result is obviously brilliant and we had to win this game, without question.

“It's a been a little while coming but the effort, energy and physicality the boys put out there was outstanding. We also have to give Falmouth credit, they played well and their defence took a while to break through.

“Tom Skelding played very well and bossed the line out. Folland and Alex Priest were everywhere as usual. Harry Bloodworth was the sponsor’s man of the match.”

On the professional scene, Exeter Chiefs fought back to beat Munster 32-24 in the European Champions Cup.

Head Coach Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon: "As the pressure really came on we came up with a couple of moments," Baxter told BBC Radio Devon.

"I don't really know how Jack Dunne scored that try, but the truth is it's not how he scores it, it's where it comes from.

"It comes from us exiting well, we win the contestable kick off, Stu takes a good decision to create more pressure with a second quick kick and then it's the bounce of a ball.

"We created pressure with the bounce of the ball perhaps making things work and that's what you have to do."