East Devon Eagles had a hard fought battle to beat Devon Sharks 20-18 and stay unbeaten at the top of the league. 

 

A strong Sharks side with a much changed line up put the Eagles to the test and for the first 10 minutes Eagles were unlucky not to score when skipper Dave McCarthy was held up on the line.

 

On 15 minutes Sharks were on the Eagles 5 metres when the ball was spun out for Sharks Dave Wellbeloved to crash over the line, Matt Jackson converting.

 

Eagles replied 5 minutes later when Mark Wathes crossed over in the corner but the difficult conversion failed.

 

Sharks went further ahead with an unconverted try by Matt Allinson and just before half time, Eagles gave away a penalty, kicked by Jackson, to give Sharks a 12-4 lead at the break.

 

The second half saw the Eagles on the scoresheet after 5 minutes when Mike Wilson took the ball from McCarthy.  Wilson put up a high kick near the posts and Jascha Saeck was on hand to jump and catch the ball and go over by the posts but the conversion fell just short.

 

After 15 minutes, Sharks increased their lead further with a try by Russell Morris, converted by Jackson, so now the Eagles had a lot of work to do to catch up.

 

Approaching the half hour, Eagles Garry Hooper took the ball on and made a break up the touchline.  Adam Morris was on hand on the wing and an outside pass by Hooper saw Morris break through and touchdown wide out, Shaun fayter converting leaving the Eagles trailing by just 2 points.

 

With the end of the game in sight Eagles knew they had to step up a gear and put pressure on and attack the Sharks line.

 

Wathes broke through several tackles, made distance and touched down wide out for his second try,  but the kick just failed, giving the Eagles a slender 2point victory on the final whistle.

 

After the game the Man of the Match was awarded to Nathan Budd.

 

The Eagles this week were without player coach Tony Emmins and Rich Cadywould who were playing for the England Lionhearts against the Irish Wolfhounds, Emmins captaining the side.  The Lionhearts won the game 28-12 and Cadywould scored a try and kicked 4 conversions.

 

Next week sees the Eagles away to Exeter Centurions who are now second in the league.

 

Eagles Tries:  Wathes (2), Saeck, Morris
Conversions:  Fayter (2)