National League Three South West

Ivybridge 9,

Hornets 7

It was a rain soaked Cross-in-Hand that welcomed Hornets for this first league game of the season and the rain barely gave up all game writes Steph Newman.

Jay Geraty led he team out for his 100th 1XV appearance, which he has been looking forward too ending last season on 99.

Not ideal weather conditions to start in, but that is something you can’t be ruled by; the pitch looked great and was hard on top.

The home side had the first opportunity to put points on the board with a penalty around the 15-minute mark from Matt Grieveson, but the kick was missed.

Ten minutes later he had another chance and this one was successful, putting Ivies 3-0 up.

With the back row playing really well, Ivybridge had the better of the first half, going in 6-0 up thanks to another penalty from Billy Pinkus.

Near the end of the first half the Bridge were camped on Hor­nets’ line and from where I was sitting went over the line, only for referee Kevin Wil­liams to disallow it.

Both teams took refuge in the dressing rooms over half time and when they returned to the field the rain had relented somewhat. Within a minute of the re-start Ivies were awarded another penalty, but Grieveson could only put it wide.

On 62 minutes Hor­nets worked their way down field and applied their first period of substantial pressure on the Ivybridge line, culminating in a try from Ben Fry which was converted to give them a 6-7 lead.

With a change in the front row, Nathan Reeves came on to replace Jon Morgan, then there ensued a little bit of argy-bargy between the two sides, resulting in a yellow card for Ivybridge flanker George Wilson and the Hornets scrum-half.

As the whistle ap­proached the home side had to produce their best defence, refusing to panic and probably produced their best period of play.

After a third penalty put them ahead once again, Ivybridge calmly saw out the last few minutes of play.

New player-coach Jamie Tripcony had an impressive debut in the pack and was pleased with Ivybridge’s spirit in really difficult conditions.

‘The boys dug deep,’ he said. ‘It was tough conditions, but the character of the team showed, especially at the end. We got two points up with that kick and we just kept the ball. The spirit in this team is huge. The guys are willing to dig in and they certainly did that. We always had the belief.

‘I know sometimes talk is a bit cheap, but these guys really live up to those words.’

Last season, one of Ivybridge’s biggest faults was their failure to adapt to wet conditions.

Tripcony said: ‘We have to adapt to the conditions. Maybe at times we could have dealt with it a bit better, but I thought come the end, to keep the structures like we did and keep the ball like we did, was a huge effort.’

‘I am enjoying the coaching, but the guys here are so coachable. Their attitude and enthusiasm is amazing, so for me it is quite easy to coach.

‘At times it is hard to adapt from coaching and playing, but, like I said, the guys’ attitude is unreal.’

Although the weather probably put a few people off, Tripcony enjoyed the atmosphere at Cross-in-Hand for his league debut.

‘The crowd were fantastic,’ he said. ‘The support in those conditions, really helped us, especially in those last dying moments.

‘We want to make this a tough place to come and the guys are responding big time.’