Tavistock RFC U18 Girls 35 Liskeard RFC U18 Girls 22 ON an extremely windy day with wet conditions underfoot this threatened to be a difficult day for both sides. The start saw Tavistock start brightly with some good ball retention and phases of play. But Liskeard broke the deadlock with a breakaway try. Tavistock came straight back and a turnover followed by quick ball from the contact area saw McCall breakaway to score down the blindside. The home side then built on this score, with excellent interplay between forwards and backs. Tavistock then scored in the corner through Daymond after some superb support play through the forwards. Kicking conditions were awful and Tavistock's McGechie came close on a number of occasions. Tavistock gained more in confidence and began to put more phases together through picking and driving. The front row of McCall, Nielson and Lane worked tirelessly at the breakdown winning turnovers and securing good ball. Megicks and Conn worked well to gain the hard yards with good crash ball running and support play. This provided a base for the backs which saw them running at pace from deep to good effect, making yards and putting Liskeard on the back foot. Kemish at scrumhalf for the home side was sniping around the fringes of rucks keeping the Liskeard defence on their toes whilst providing quality service to her half back partner Hair at fly half. Hair showed excellent distribution which saw centres Daymond and McGechie taking the ball up over the gain line. The back three of Wallace, de Carles and Warnett although deprived of the ball in attack due to the conditions worked hard in support and defence; the Tavistock defence limited Liskeard to kicking, so the back three were kept busy. After a half time advantage of 15 – 10 Tavistock emerged in the second period all guns blazing and scored two quick fire tries through Nielson and McCall. As both teams tired mistakes attempted to creep in but the Tavistock girls showed grit and determination to continue to smash Liskeard back in the tackle and put themselves on the front foot. The visitors again scored a breakaway try, to which the Tavistock response was another two tries through Nielson, who played superbly. Mhairi McCall, coach of Tavistock Ladies' U18s said: 'This was a superb result for Tavistock and an emphatic performance — the best result of the season.' Player of the match, Clara Nielson.
