Cornwall and Devon League. Falmouth 13 Tavistock 22 Tavistock eventually secured a convincing victory by outscoring their hosts by four tries to one and Tavistock would have been out of sight long before the end if the missed three conversions and two penalties had been converted. This victory sees Tavistock tucked in third place and keeps the pressure on Newquay and Cullompton who are currently above them in the league. Tavistock started slowly and for the first ten minutes they looked as if they were still 'on the bus' as Falmouth ran into a ten point lead. The first points came when Tavistock were penalised at a ruck for offside and James Instance kicked the penalty to give Falmouth the lead. Falmouth then extended their lead when winger Ali Bundi was put through to score close to the posts, Instance converted. Tavistock slowly got themselves back into the game as the forwards started to exercise some control. Unfortunately Tavistock lost the impressive Andy Hunt during this time but his replacement Darren Sutton proved equally effective in both lineout and loose play. The Tavistock forward pressure allowed the backs to probe with Doug Lloyd and Dave Goodspeed in the centre prominent in testing the Falmouth defence. However, it was via the forwards that Tavistock eventually got back into the game when after a clean lineout take the Tavistock pack's driving maul was rewarded with a try from Duncan Law. Facing the slope in the second half could have been a problem but Tavistock dug deep in to their belief and completely dominated Falmouth. The forwards were excellent and with Jake Phillips, Duncan Law and Matt Cole dominating the loose chances were created which Tavy accepted. The first score of the second half came after the backs had moved the ball to the left and worked space for Andy Wright to score in the corner to level the scores. Tavistock then lost scrum half Alex Moy and were forced to moved fly half Josh Sutton to the base of the scrum. Sutton continued to put pressure on his opposite number as Moy had done and from one turnover created by the pressure Doug Lloyd was set free to score under the posts. Sutton converted. With 15 minutes remaining Tavistock lost prop Matt Martin to the sin bin. This gave Newquay the numerical advantage and only some great Tavistock defence kept their line intact. Winger Joe Lane was especially effective under the high ball. However Tavistock did concede a penalty goal converted by Instance to reduce the Tavistock lead to 17 – 13 with five minutes remaining When back at full strength Tavistock were able to wrap up the game and with the last move of the match Duncan Law grabbed his second try finishing off another lineout catch and drive. l This weekend Tavistock entertain Crediton in the Cornwall and Devon league. Kick off 2.30pm.
