Local Sport

Season of hurt ends in triumph

After a season of crushing final defeats, the people of Exeter can at last revel in a Cup success (albeit a Devon victory made up of a team of mostly Plymouth Albion players, on hindsight not so much a cloud with a silver lining, as acid rain).

In an extremely rare season, ECFC earned a place in the Conference Play-Off Final at Wembley which they lost after going ahead, whilst their oval-balled counterparts Exeter Chiefs battled all the way to the Powergen Final at Twickenham, but were defeated in an even more gauling encounter after leading with just 10 minutes left.

Yet despite these disappointments, the Devon county rugby squad gave their fans something to cheer about after winning the County Championship title at Twickenham. The Championship has been renamed the Bill Beaumont Cup after the ex-England rugby legend, and Devon had to face his old county side Lancashire in a tough encounter.

It was all smiles this time however, as Devon crushed their opponents and ran out 27-6 winners, largely due to the brilliance of the Exeter Chiefs contingent - both of them!