Tavistock 1st XV 45

Liskeard & Looe 0

TAVISTOCK, sponsored by Taylors Restaurant, welcomed Liskeard & Looe RFC on Saturday, promptly dispatching the Cornish team to extend their seven game winning run, thanks to a clinical first half display of sensational rugby.

Liskeard's lowly league position belied their recent run of good form yet they were visibly awestruck by Tavistock's blistering start.

The home crowd had barely had time to settle before talismanic captain Lloyd James crossed the whitewash with a scorching break from a maul, allowing fly-half West to easily add the extras. James Bruna, classy throughout, sparked an attack with a spectacular salmon-like leap and catch, in turn creating space for the flying David Goodspeed to exploit slick passing from fullback Will Glover to round his opposite man and dive over in the corner.

With only ten minutes gone and 12 points already on the board, the indomitable front row unit of Adrian Baker, Matt Martin and James, who have been fundamental to Tavistock's mid-season revival, displayed impressive interpassing to allow Andrew Schuttkacker to score under the posts. The second rower, along with the tireless Mark Friend, proved to be a constant thorn in Liskeard's side as his relentless foraging at the breakdown suppressed any chance of a Cornish comeback.

The Tavistock backs, keen to not be outdone by the forwards, saw centre Danny Luffman celebrate his comeback from injury with a scintillating try that had the opposition's fullback tied up in knots and the crowd roaring with delight. Despite intermittent rain showers making attacking handling difficult for the Tavistock back three, the Dartmoor side evidently had too much quality for a spirited Liskeard team. Going into the halftime break 26-0 to the good, the coaches wisely warned against complacency.

What followed was a more disjointed affair, punctuated by flashes of brilliance from the fleet-footed Luffman, who twice took full advantage of a tiring defence and a favourable slope to seal his hat-trick. Liskeard only once seriously threatened the Tavistock try line, where their incessant mauls were ably repelled by back rows Jake Chinn and Dan Oner, on for the industrious Andrew Griffiths; the youthful duo felling men twice their size for fun.

Richard West displayed an intelligent array of distribution. He alternated between spraying the ball wide to wingers George Rodgers and Greg Fairchild, on for cramp victim Glover, and keeping Liskeard on the back foot with Duncan Law.

Law deputised for injured Doug Lloyd at inside centre with admirable versatility. While not possessing the same quality as Lloyd, he used his trademark ball snaffling skills to repeatedly turn defence into attack. It was from one of Law's barnstorming runs that scrum-half Ewan Smith, having herded his forwards around the pitch like an able sheepdog throughout the game, capped off a fine performance with an instinctive dive over the try line from a quickly taken penalty.

The referee's reluctance to punish Liskeard's attempts to slow the ball down began to irk Tavistock in their attempts to cross the 50 point barrier, and it was inevitably Liskeard who saw their numbers reduced to 14 after repeated indiscipline at the breakdown. Despite the introduction of robust prop Joe Hair, Tavistock fell just five points short of the half century but the zero points conceded was the most pleasing aspect of this display for the coaches.

Tavistock find themselves in fifth place in the league, narrowing the gap between them and Hayle to just four points. Thanks go to match ball sponsor Alan James.