Devon Two League Plymouth Argaum 0 North Tawton 20 DUE to the unavailability of a number of players, North Tawton took a changed side to Plymouth for their third league fixture, including new players this season, James Legry at hooker and Mike Younger in the second row. Good use by fly half David Fewings of the fresh breeze blowing down the pitch gave Tawton an early territorial advantage. Their scrum set up a maul close to the Argaum line from which flanker Keith Jones broke off and passed to wing Alfie May. He was held up but the Argaum defence was penalised and gave David Fewings a chance for the first points of the game. With a characteristically good strike from out wide he converted the penalty to give Tawton three points. The first quarter of the game was all North Tawton and Argaum were unusually ragged in their defence. They conceded another penalty from slightly further out, again converted by Fewings. The Tawton scrum had settled well and was dominating in the set pieces. As half time approached they had a scrum about 15 metres out from which the ball was moved to May on the blind side wing. He made ground and set up a maul from which number 8 Steve King broke away and dived over for a try. Fewings was again on target and converted to take Tawton into a 13 ? 0 lead. From another Tawton scrum King made a back row break and fed the ball to his scrum half Chris Martin who went over the try line, but the ball was held up. The visitors were not to be denied however and on the stroke of half time a scrum five metres from Argaum?s line developed into a driving maul and young second row James Henshaw got the ball down to score his first try for the club. David Fewings converted to take Tawton to a 20 ? 0 lead at the break. The second half started with what seemed like a series of penalties being exchanged by the two sides, and it took some time for any pattern of play to develop. An incisive inside break by Tawton?s centre Mike Symons cut into Argaum?s defence and resulted in a scrum on the five metre line. This time the Argaum scrum held firm and a long clearance kick using the following wind broke the siege. This gave the home side heart and better driving play took them into the Tawton 22 metre area. When Tawton were penalised again Argaum opted for a tapped pass which they knocked on, letting Tawton off the hook. A further penalty was kicked to touch. Tawton defended the resulting lineout well, and the danger was passed. North Tawton gave away too many penalties in the final stages to be able to build up the cohesion they had in the first half and, despite several forays into Argaum territory, they were unable to increase the scoreline. Their final chance in the closing moments of an extended injury time was a long range penalty from almost on the half way line. This time Fewing?s kick fell short, and that moment summed up the second half very well.
