Tavistock Colts 8 Ivybridge Colts 10 Tavistock had to reshape their back line again this week after players picking up injuries in mid week games but the new look side, with U16 Shaun Hill playing well at centre, had no problems gelling together. Playing down the slope in the first half Tavistock struggled to break down the Ivybridge defence but were awarded a penalty for offside which Shaun Hill had no problems kicking for his first points for the team. Both teams had fly halfs who were prepared to run but struggled to get play beyond the gain line, but a nice break from scrum half Josh Bancroft and his pass to Andrew Smerdon broke the defence for him to run around the full back to score out wide. Ivybridge came back and some basic errors in defence by Tavistock let them in for their first try to bring the half time score to 8-5. Ivybridge had the wind and slope in the second half and used it well to pin Tavistock in their own half for most of this period, but some great defence work from the pack especially man of the match Dale Thompson who never stopped running and tackling. Josh O'Neil made a lot of ground running from number eight to try and get the ball in the Ivybridge half but Tavistock could not keep the ball and the Ivybridge fly half punished them by kicking long to the corners — eventually pressure told and Ivybridge scored a good try but could not put away the conversion. After the restart Tavistock had a good spell with front row duo Rory Gilmore and Jason Ward crashing through the defence, but after the ball had gone through several phases it was given away too easily for Ivybridge to clear their line to force Tavistock back on the defence. This was a great game to watch and played in great spirit by both teams which could have gone either way. l This week the Tavistock Colts are home to Sidmouth, kick-off at 2.30pm.
