BOB Dylan said in 1963 the answer my friend was blowing in the wind, writes Arthur Williams.

Skip forward 52 years and to a wet, boggy and freezing Bude pitch, Falmouth may have wished they had taken note of the famous lyric.

The Eagles opted to kick with the wind behind them in the first half, but did show enough intelligence to take full advantage of the conditions as they fell to 22-13 defeat.

They were also out-fought by the home pack, who handled the conditions proportionally better when the wind was on their backs in the second half.

Falmouth’s lack of nous showed up in the opening 25 minutes as they failed to open the scoring until then, with Justyn Irons kicking home a penalty.

Immediately Bude made them pay for not using the conditions wisely as their number eight James Comber got the match’s first try, finishing off a driving maul move.

Inside centre Olly Denford converted the score, but Falmouth responded through Irons’ boot again with another penalty.

But not long after making it 7-6, influential forward Simon Bailey was sent to the sin-bin for ten minutes.

His absence leading up to the break gave Bude space to run around in and created a move through their pack before shifting the ball to the blindside for Steve Yates to dive over.

Denford missed the conversion and after the interval, the visitors showed much more spirit and enthusiasm, taking the lead when winger Nick Carne intercepted a pass to run half a pitch length to dot down under the posts.

Suspense built around the ground as the sides pushed and shoved for 25 minutes without scoring.

In the end though, a territorial advantage was steadily set-up by Bude which allowed Bradley James to get over.

Hopes of a losing bonus point were then snatched away from the Eagles as Denford added a penalty to the score inside the final minute.

On a drier day, the contest may have finished different with conditions which suit Falmouth’s natural style of play better.

For all their style though, the extra five per cent of substance they needed on this occasion was nowhere to be seen.

A big test awaits them next with second placed Crediton visiting the Recreation Ground.

Kick-off is at 2.30pm and in the clubhouse, supporters will be able to watch all the Six Nations games, including Friday night’s Wales v England clash.

FALMOUTH: 15 J Symons, 14 Macintyre, 13 Spiller, 12 Stutheridge, 11 Carne, 10 Irons (c), 9 Tyson; 1 Searle, 2 Church, 3 Grach, 4 Dobson, 5 Baglow, 6 David, 7 Fitzpatrick, 8 Bailey.

REPS: Instance, Gilbert, Collett.

TRY: Carne.

CON: Irons.

PENS: Irons (2).

SIN-BIN: Bailey.