A foul drive Southeast down the Devon coastline, as the clouds unleashed some hellish weather.
The under 12s have suffered defeats in their last five games since their opening convincing win against OPM things just haven’t been clicking.

For a plethora of reasons, the boys found themselves only just about able to make a team of twelve this morning, therefore they knew they would have to dig deep and put in one mammoth performance to turn the tide and break the losing streak that was beginning to really hurt them.

Brixham’s pitch had only just about held up from the downpour that had ensued that morning, likely due to it almost being at altitude in the Devon landscape.

Brixham had a healthy amount of numbers including a few players completely new to the game, always good to see from a grassroots perspective. With the wind and rain doing its best to ruin everyone’s morning the Brixham ref deciding and rightly so to get the game underway a little bit earlier than planned.

Two twenty-minute halves got underway and the enthusiasm from both sets of supporters was fantastic from the off, pretty sure the locals back in Dartington could hear the cries from the sidelines.

The rugby that unfolded couldn’t be free-flowing or lovely passes winging around the field, the weather just would not allow. What did unfold was some pure grit and determination from a team that was wounded and hurting from being on the back of so many defeats recently. To a man, every single one of them dug deep and fronted up. Many having to play out of their normal positions due to the low numbers and subsequent alterations of the normal team layout. During the first half the defense from Devonport did not falter, Brixham were unable to penetrate the line and the few times that they did the work rate to get back and assist their fullback was second to none. Devonport ran in seven unanswered trys during the first half, six of which came from Olly O his long legs swallowing the slightly downhill ground up nicely after Dylan D opened the scoring early on with a powerful line breaking run, giving the boys a nice cushion to work with at half time.

The mud was thick, and the pitch had cut up somewhat by the time the first half whistle had been blown. The young men gathered closely in the half time huddle their arms around each other’s shoulders gripping the shirts of the player stood next to them as the wind and rain still tried to batter them whilst coaches gave them their orders for what would need to unfold during the next half.

Spirits were high yet so was the fatigue, no luxury of substitutions would unfold this time, not one fresh pair of legs was on the sideline waiting to come and empty the tank. The boys knew they would have to dig deep if they were to maintain their lead and come away with that long awaited yet so much deserved second win of the season.

The second half was to be a tough one, playing with the wind in their faces and slightly up hill the action commenced once again. The Devonport defense was like a brick wall yet again and the boys held their shape superbly. Inoke “Noks” coming inches short in the corner yet Olly O bagged himself his seventh of the day by quickly picking up and finishing off his teammate's hard work.

Jack B going over again for Devonport with a strong carry and Brixham failing to hold him up once he had crossed the whitewash.
Charlie C was quality at the base of the rucks, working his socks off to get around the park and make it to each breakdown, a job he would normally share with Freddie S who this time found himself covering fullback for the full forty. The makeshift full back dropped in with ease and covered the back filled beautifully, assisted greatly by Albie R and Olly W. It was not a day for the wingers the weather made sure of it, but the back three worked amazingly together, communication was on point and some of the tackles they were putting in were on fire.

The front three had made sure they had emptied the tank come full time, Billy E at hooker with Tristan and Noks either side of him, a game where the ball went forward on more than one occasion these three along with a solid second row of Olly O and Jack B had their work cut out for them, yet they delivered in spades at every scrum, ruck and maul.

Harrison O had a solid game at fly-half kicking well and carrying hard and also making sure he set the tone in defense leading the blitz line with no fear. Just outside of him was Jasper R, his tackling was again off the chart and he did not miss a single one, whenever Brixham ran down his channel there was simply no way through, backed up by an equally good performance from Dylan D who broke the Brixham line on several occasions and had it not been for some fine last ditch tackling he would have surely found himself on the scoreboard more than once.

Eventually, the fatigue, the wind, the rain and the slight up hill battle did get the better of the Devonport under 12s. That and a never say die attitude from a quality Brixham side who never gave up from the offset. A few changes were made by Brixham with ten minutes left in the half and some good play and well-deserved breaks saw Brixham go over twice in the last few minutes of the game.

The final whistle blew by a referee who had his work cut out in some horrid conditions and who had equally done as good a performance as all those out on the pitch. One of the muddiest tunnels conducted in a long while and hands were shaken from all parties.

The boys celebrated hard in the changing rooms pumping out some songs and having a good laugh. Devoured some good food and received good hospitality in the Brixham club house once the mud had been washed out of the hair, although most of the lads need to learn to check in each other’s ears before they get into their number ones.

Always a pleasure visiting “The Fishermen” we wish them the best with the rest of the season and look forward to you visiting us next year.

Scorers. Oliver O (7), Dylan D and Jack B.

The Team.
Albie R.
Billy E.
Charlie C.
Dylan D
Freddie S.
Harrison O.
Inoke N.
Jack B.
Jasper R.
Oliver O.
Olly W.
Tristan H.