Cully started the game very brightly and had a penalty chance in the second minute but unfortunately Josh Luxon pushed it just wide. This near miss woke Tivvy up and they played most of the first half at the Cully end of the field. Tivvy almost got a try on 13 minutes but were held up. This led to some handbags and Tivvy’s No8 and our Andrew Hayball were sent to the bin. Both wondering why them. Tivvy did get their first try a minute later scoring in the corner but missing the conversion. 5 – 0. Tivvy still had most of the possession and on 28 minutes they had a scrum on our 5m line and a well worked move down the blindside put their winger over again in the corner. Again the conversion was missed 10 – 0. Cully started having more of the ball and were looking dangerous but Tivvys defence was solid until 3 minutes before half time. Cully had a lineout 5 metres out and after a well worked drive Andrew Hayball broke away and scored. It seemed it wasn’t the night for conversions as Josh Luxon missed as well. 10 – 5. Cullys tails were up and on th stroke of half time Josh Luxon slotted a penalty to end the half 10 – 8.

Tivvy came flying out the blokes in the second half and after a number of penalties finally got a penalty try from a maul. Unfortunately the team yellow card was given to Andrew Hayball and as it was his second yellow it became a red card. It is safe to say they Andrew felt a bit hard done by. 17 – 8. Cully responded as they did last weekend to going down to 14 men and spent the next 10 minutes in the Tivvy 22. Unfortunately through some good defence and errors on Cully part they couldn’t score. The game was ebbing back and forward between the 22’s until on 58 minutes a sharp passing move put Zac May away in the corner for Cullys second try again the conversion was missed. 17 – 13. Both teams were having opportunities but couldn’t get the ball over the line. With the game almost over Tivvy threw everything at us and got a try with 2 minutes left. Cully tried to retrieve the ball from the restart but Tivvy held on to win 22 – 18.

It was an excellent game to watch with both teams playing well and our boys can hold their heads high as they never gave up and with a bit more luck could have taken the win. These teams will now meet in the league on Saturday again oved the hill in Tiverton. Hopefully we can get some revenge.