North Tawton 17
Exeter Saracens 11 34
EARLY play in this friendly saw the Tawton lineout continuing their good form of recent weeks. A steal from a Saracen?s throw by Adam Hooper fed Phil Wale at scrum half and set up a charge through the centre by fly half Andy Poole.
A break through the middle by Tawton?s Nigel Dennis, back in the front row of the scrum, set up second-phase ball for Charlie Ewen to drive to the line, fending off two tackles and scoring under the posts; conversion by Ross Lawrence.
A good penalty kick to Saracens from the halfway line benefited from the tail wind, landing at Tawton?s five metre line. From the throw-in a second penalty to the visitors for offside led to their prop, Simon Tansley, crashing through for their first try, which was not converted.
Tawton were guilty of some silly mistakes to give away two penalties which let Saracens back. Right wing Dave Walters scored his first try; conversion by fly half Gareth Henkus put Saracens ahead by 12-7.
Good covering defence by Saracens meant a Tawton attack ran out of room on the right touchline. The ball was moved from a Saracens scrum to winger Walters who completed another strong run to score his second try, which was not converted.
Tawton re-organised their three-quarter line to move versatile Dave Quick from the centre to scrum half, allowing Phil Wale to take up his familiar position at fly half. When a loose ball was hacked through by Saracens, Quick dived on the ball in front of the approaching attacker and a wrestling match developed.
The referee resolved a scrum should go to Saracens, from which a neat blind-side move allowed their left wing Ben Croft in for a try close to the touchline. It was not converted.
Half-time substitutions by Tawton brought in back-row Richard Lethbridge and scrum half Martin Friggins, with Quick moving back to the wing.
Fifteen minutes in a long kick through by Friggins from the back of a set scrum rolled across the dead ball line beyond the stretching fingers of Adam Hooper.
From the 22 metre drop-out good recycling by Tawton gave Quick a chance to make a run across the right wing, putting full back Paul Fewings into space on the left. The final pass out to Ross Lawrence on the left wing left some work to be done, but he jinked through for a try. The conversion was missed.
On 35 minutes Tawton?s next try opened up the game. Phil Wale set up the move with a penetrating run and Nigel Dennis continued the drive into the Saracens? defence. The feed from the maul to Andy Poole gave him the gap he needed to drive over for a well-taken try. Although the conversion missed Tawton were within five points of Saracens.
Saracens were able to respond better than the home team, however, and in the last stages Walters completed his hat-trick of tries and number 8 Bob Trump was given a gap to break through the tiring defences of Tawton to score the final points under the posts.
Post-match celebrations included the awarding of the impromptu Taw Cup to the winning side, a consolation trophy for the two sides, each of whom had come last in their respective leagues.
The Ladies versus Lads match is this Sunday, May 2, with the joint Tavistock/North Tawton team playing North Tawton Legends XV at 3pm.