Tavistock U16s 21 Barnstaple U16s 19 TAVISTOCK U16s secured victory with graft and craft to go top of their league with four wins out of four. Tavistock took to the field knowing this was going to be tough test against a well-fancied and physically strong Barnstaple side. This was a brutal encounter played hard and fair and well refereed in a great atmosphere. It was an impressive display from the start with the pack well led by Ollie Larcombe-Moore and a huge display by both sets of forwards. Tavistock got off to an encouraging start and were first to score. A trademark Jake Luffman offload saw Sean Hill break from inside his own half running a great line that left the Barnstaple defence in his wake to score under the posts. He completed the conversion. Barnstaple fought back and after a long period of pressure brought the scores level. The visitors were starting to win a lot more ball, particularly in the line out, and soon hit the front following a strong drive, which fed in their centre to crash over from five metres to score a second converted try. Tavistock were not to be out fought. With the whole home pack outstanding in defence they battled back and a period of controlled play which went through a number of phases eventually worked the ball to the backs and allowed Dan Scott to score. Sean Hill converted to bring the half time scores level at 14-14. The second half continued with both teams evenly balanced, a number of exciting attacking moves were soaked up as each team tried to gain the upper hand. Barnstaple must have thought they had got the decisive score when their inside centre again blasted over. The missed conversion was to prove expensive. But there was one final twist, a cross-field move through many hands fed Fraser Carter who powered through to cross the try line in the corner for Tavistock, scoring under the posts. This allowed Sean Hill to stroke over the conversion with the final kick of the match to ensure sweet victory for Tavistock.
