East Devon Eagles were without any league rugby this weekend when Devon Sharks could not raise a side and the fixture was cancelled.

 

Player/coach Tony Emmins is extremely pleased with the way the season is going so far.  The players have embraced the new game plan and it seems to be working and as the league develops in the South West and the competition getting harder, so the game plans are getting more complicated.  We are very lucky to have very skilful half-backs in Rich Cadywould and Mark Wathes, and their natural leadership is a major contribution to the Eagles success so far.

 

We have seen some excellent performances to date with wins away at Plymouth Titans and South Dorset Giants, at home against Somerset Vikings and last weekend away to Devon Sharks in the South West Challenge Cup.  The Titans game was an eye opener and as always, Titans were very physical with some big units and aggressive defence, but the players overcame this with some excellent lines and hard defence.  Skipper Dave McCarthy led the way in defence with Paul Morgan and John Bird keeping the Titans at bay.

 

The Somerset Vikings game was another shock.  We were ready for a strong Vikings side but an absolutely fabulous display of running rugby gave us our largest win to date of 102 points to 4 points with some fantastic running from Dale Sleeman, Matt Ryan, Jack Downie and Mark Wathes and some hard yards from Jonny Boltrukiewicz, Paul Flower, Jack Westlake and Mike Wilson.

 

We then went all the way to Yeovil to play newcomers South Dorset Giants.  We felt very confident that we would come away with a victory but with the help of the referee, this became a lot harder than we first thought.

 

Last week we had our first Cup game away to Devon Sharks. As always this was a physical encounter but with some very good control by the half-backs and good use of the game plan, we came away with a comfortable victory. 

 

At this point in time, everything is going well and with the help of the players we have formed a game plan that works for us and we are confident that we can be very successful this year in all 3 competitions, the League, the South West Challenge Cup and the National Competitions. 

 

We also have 2 Eagles players representing England Lionhearts  in the Rugby League Conference Home Nations competition this year – Rich Cadywould and Tony Emmins.   This years tournament kicks off with the England Lionhearts playing Wales as the curtain raiser for the Celtic Crusaders v Wigan match in Bridgend and we wish them both the very best of luck