Crediton captain Ollie Avery-Wright is surrounded by team-mates as he shows off the Devon Senior Shield after the win over Ivybridge in the final Photo: Jay Harris

By Conrad Sutcliffe

EDD Brady shot over for two tries as Crediton produced a minor shock to defeat Ivybridge 30-24 in the final of the Devon Senior Shield.

The Shield is effectively the third and fourth-place play-off in the Devon Senior Cup and a consolation prize for the losing semi-finalists.

The Bridge made life hard for themselves by going 19-5 down before half time, and 27-8 after it, and spent the rest of the game playing catch-up.

Ivybridge cut the leeway to 27-21 deep into the second half, but could get no closer.

Crediton play in the league division below Ivybridge at the moment, but victory over Ivybridge was no fluke.

“We fully deserved to win the final and it was our third  victory over a team from the division higher in the competition,” said Stuart Lowe, the Crediton coach.

“Having finished second in South West Two it was a great way to end what has been an outstanding season for the club.”

Lowe said a real plus for the club was the number of players in the cup-winning squad who had come through the junior and colts sections.

“Twenty of the 22 player involved started their rugby at Crediton, which is a huge achievement,” said Lowe.

Jamie Tripcony, Ivybridge’s director of rugby, said: “Unfortunately, we left ourselves too much to do, which was frustrating.

“We really wanted to finish on a high, and get a bit of silverware to give us some momentum to go into the summer, but it just was not meant to be.

“Crediton pushed away from us by starting really well. They are a really good team with a lot of experience.”

Ivybridge drew first blood with a try for Tom Scoles, but for the rest of the first half it was Crediton all the way.

Some well-structured phases of play ended in winger Devon Hosegood going over. Ollie Avery-Wright converted.

Brady scored next with a training ground move that culminated in him outpacing the Ivybridge full-back on the way over. Avery-Wright converted again.

Bobby Jenkins added try number three on the end of another set of phased-plays. The conversion did not make it.

Ivybridge lost a player to the sin bin in the run-up to half time, but Crediton failed to take advantage of an extra man.

The second half started poorly for Crediton with Jenkins heading for the bin after a bad tackle. Tough defence from Crediton was needed to keep the Bridge out until Jenkins returned, although the visitors did chip over a penalty.

Eventually, Ivybridge cut the leeway with a try from centre Charlie Briant, whom Lowe singled out after the match as th4 opposition’s ‘best player’. Matt Grieveson converted.

Any hopes Ivybridge may have had of a comeback were killed off by Crediton’s fourth and final try, which opened up a 27-15 lead. More phased play was engineered by Avery-Wright and taken on by Jenkins, who put Dan Yeandle in to score.

The final few minutes were littered with penalties: three for Ivybridge and one for Avery-Wright.