Friendly

Tavistock RFC 19

Wadebridge 62

WADEBRIDGE who play two leagues higher were put on the back foot early as Tavistock started brightly with penetrating running from Dan Oner and Dan Cunningham.

Tavistock were unable to make any of their early pressure tell and Wadebridge began to dominate the ball. Tavistock held firm with solid scrummaging from debutant Nick Hockin and Adrian Baker but Wadebridge eventually broke the deadlock after strong running from their inside backs.

The home side were forced to defend for the rest of the first half letting in a further five tries. Wadebridge were made to work hard for each of their scores with stubborn resistance from Doug Lloyd and George Rodgers. The half ended with Tavistock 42 points down.

The second half was a lot more even affair with the play going end to end. Tavistock started to win more ball in the set piece allowing David Goodspeed and Josh Leeson to have more influence. Good running from Andrew Kaka and Lloyd James was supported by superb rucking from the tireless Robin Jones and Oner.

Tavistock scored their first try after a lineout move released Andrew Griffith to tear up the middle, quick hands from the backs put Dan Luffman into space and the speedy centre scored under the posts. Leeson missed the easy conversion. Wadebridge responded by driving deep into their opponent's half before eventually touching down in the corner.

Tavistock came back again with the introduction of Jason Ward and Mark Friend adding a new dimension to the pack. Quick feet from Ward, who offloaded to Friend, produced a small gap for fullback Will Glover. Glover showed excellent finishing skills as he outpaced the defence in a superb run to score close to the posts. Leeson converted.

The game swung again as Tavistock were force to concede a penalty. Wadebridge kicked to the corner and from the resulting lineout they set up a driving maul and scored a pushover try.

As the game entered the last ten minutes Tavistock put together a set of phases with the backs and forwards combining well.

Tom Thurlsby made a break wide out on the right, with Tavistock on the front foot they had a large overlap on the left which allowed Luffman to snipe through a hole close to the ruck to score again. Leeson converted.

Unfortunately, Tavistock let Wadebridge have the last word slipping off a few tackles.

This was a good performance from a new look side who are starting to play an exciting brand of rugby.