Devon Junior Cup Tavistock RFC U13 17 Brixham RFC U13 5 A full Tavistock U13 squad consisting of an almost full return of last season?s U12 along with some new faces met Brixham U13s at home in the first round of the Devon Cup. Tavistock were encouraged by an early try from man of the match Sam Northmore who achieved a score from a scrum from the Tavistock 22. Brixham made sure that there was no repeat by subsequent marking Sam, who left the field with an injured shoulder. A second first half try was delivered by Chris Swash who powered through the defence after receiving the ball from a series of recycles through the Tavistock backs. In the second half the backs demonstrated their passing skills which benefit from the larger pitch size of the U13 game enabling the ball to reach the wings after making ground. Charlie Huish took full advantage of Brixham?s slower defence and showed his turn of speed in sprinting along the wing with sufficient time to place the ball under the posts and achieve his first try for the club. Some mistakes in the rucks by Tavistock enabled Brixham to turnover the ball and in the final quarter this provided Brixham with the opportunity to run in a try from the halfway line. A similar manoeuvre by Brixham in the closing minutes was thwarted by a tackle from a sprinting Frazer Bayliss within feet of the line. Only one try was converted as both teams commence their first season of not picking directly under the posts. The unconverted tries showed great promise for the future as kicking skills develop. The early advantage in the scoreline enabled Tavistock to use all its available squad giving valuable match experience to new and emergent players in differing positions. Okehampton RFC U13s 45 Honiton RFC U13s 0 Okehampton opened their challenge for the cup with a display of fine well controlled rugby which saw them pass onto the next round. Kicking off at the start and attacking with vigour they held the territorial advantage in Honiton?s half for most of the match. With the home forwards controlling the ball and feeding it out to the backs it was not long before Dean Folland crossed the line for the first of his two tries. Okehampton kept up the pressure and this allowed James Balch and Dean Abrams to cross the line as well. The second half opened with Honiton?s kick collected by Okehampton and carried back into their half where the game remained apart from an occasional sortie by the away side which was easily thwarted by the Okehampton backs. Okehampton kept up the pressure which allowed Jordan Cornthwaite, Paul Penberthy and Josh Bush to score tries. During this half substitutions were made allowing new squad members to participate in their first match . They showed that their training had been absorbed and played an excellent game. The same can be said for the pack who won all the scrums both for and against the head. Okehampton scored seven tries of which Liam Wilkins converted five.
