East Devon Eagles were  not to progress to the National Quarter Finals when they were beaten by Devon Sharks 36 – 18.  With captain Dave McCarthy injured and several players unavailable, the Eagles took to the field with many players carrying injuries and playing in  different  positions.

 

For the first 30 minutes play was end to end.  In a tight competitive game, the Eagles made several handling errors early on due to the pressure of the game, but both sides then seemed to settle down.

 

Towards half time, it looked as if there were going to be no points on the board, but Sharks Joe Briggs was able to touchdown under the posts, Matt Jackson converting.  Eagles came straight back when captain of the day Mark Wathes made the distance and on being tackled, he flipped the ball to Nathan Budd for him to run in down the touchline, Rich Cadywould converting, making a level score 6-6 at the interval.

 

3 minutes into the second half, Eagles Budd was deemed to have knocked the ball on and Sharks Russ Morris was able to score, Jackson converting, followed 5 minutes later by a Sharks converted try from Jimmy Hill.

 

On the quarter hour, from a penalty the ball went out to Eagles Jonny Boltrukiewicz who crashed over the line, Cadywould converting bringing the Eagles to within one score.

 

However, it was not to be the Eagles day as Sharks scored 3 further converted tries, 2 of which were from lucky interceptions, Eagles Frederic Marty was held up over the line, and then a long kick ahead by Sharks into the sun was misjudged for the catch by the Eagles and Matt Allinson increased the Sharks lead.

 

With the clock ticking down, from the kick off Cadywould jinked his way through the Sharks defence to touchdown under the posts, kicking his own conversion, but the icing on the cake for the Eagles and a chance for the Nationals after an unbeaten season and winning the South West Challenge Cup was not to be.