Fishermen edge titanic battle at Astley Park

Brixham remain top of the Regional 1 Tribute SW Division after an epic, tense one-point victory over Royal Wootton Bassett at a stodgy Astley Park.

The visitors started brightly and deservedly grabbed the first try on nine minutes, converting from a 5m line-out, but the Fishermen responded swiftly with a score from Kai Kidd. RWB then went up the other end to extend their lead to 5-14.

A penalty from Joel Ashworth reduced the arrears and then he dived over to give Brixham a 15-14 lead, but RWB replied immediately with another score to edge ahead 15-19 at the interval.

There was more drama to come in the second half, Andre Simonetti scored next for Brixham and they almost scored another through the lively Ashworth. Back came RWB, crossing the whitewash again to lead 22-26 as the game headed into the final 20 minutes.

Harry Rodwell turned the game back in Brixham’s favour with a crucial try and it was then the talismanic figure of Matt Crosscombe diving over in the corner to finally give the Fishermen a small cushion on the scoreboard.

Fittingly in such a fantastic game of rugby, RWB grabbed one more converted try to make the scores 34-33, but Brixham held on to remain two points clear of Barnstaple at the top of the division. The Fishermen travel to third-from-bottom Marlborough on Saturday.

There was no game for Paignton in the Counties 1 Tribute Western West Division but they resume hostilities with a trip to Wiveliscombe on Saturday. The Cherries are currently second in the table, just one point behind Pirates Amateurs.

Torquay Athletic rattled in an incredible 13 tries, including a hat-trick from Joel Armitage, to inflict a massive 85-0 victory over Tamar Saracens and extend their 100% league record to 16 matches.