Wadebridge Colts 17
Tavistock Colts 5
TAVISTOCK RFC Colts took a young and relatively inexperienced side to Wadebridge on Saturday and they played well against bigger opposition.
With an hour gone the game was finely balanced with the teams level at five points each.
The first half saw both sides running the ball in an attempt to break the opposition defence. Tavistock held firm thanks to excellent tackling around the fringes by Richard Lloyd, Matt Smith and Alex Hudson and out wide from James Radford and Rob Williams.
During these opening exchanges Tavistock lost lock forward Phil Maloney with a cut head; this dramatically reduced the height in the lineout. However Ben Sutton and Pete Welsh combined well to secure some lineout ball which Tavistock used to good effect with probing kicks from fly half Josh Sutton or strong running from centres Lawrence Evans and Duncan Law.
Just before half time Wadebridge took the lead against the run of play with an unconverted try.
From the restart Tavistock put Wadebridge under pressure and at one time prop Darren Sutton took on the whole Wadebridge pack with a storming run which they struggled to contain.
The tempo was continued by No 8 Richard Huish who also tested Wadebridge to the full. This constant pressure caused Wadebridge to concede a series of penalties which, if Josh Sutton had been on kicking form, would have put Tavistock into the lead. However, quick thinking at one penalty award by Sutton gave Duncan Law Tavistock's opening try of the season.
The final quarter saw Tavistock begin to tire and Wadebridge run in two late tries.