Western Counties

Tavistock 15

Newquay Hornets 8

DESPITE dominating Saturday's game from start to finish Tavistock had to settle for a narrow win against a side they should have put to bed before half time. Part of the problem was Tavistock's recent enforced lay-off due to the bad weather but mostly because they forgot how to convert pressure into points.

In the first half in particular the home side virtually played the whole time in the Newquay half but a combination of bad decision making, bad ball retention, and white line fever meant that Tavistock had to settle for a 5-3 half time lead.

From the start Tavy looked the sharper of the two sides and backs Danny Luffman and Doug Lloyd continually made inroads into the Newquay defence. Danny Luffman scored Tavistock's only first half points when from broken play he rounded the Newquay defence on the blind side to score in the left hand corner.

From the restart Newquay put pressure on Tavistock and were rewarded with a penalty converted by Sam Cullen when the home team were penalised for not releasing in the tackle.

Tavistock then were temporarily reduced to 14 men for ten minutes when Ben Williams was sent to the sin bin. With their numerical superiority Newquay threw everything at Tavistock but the home defence held firm with Will Brown and David Goodspeed particularly effective at policing the blind side. Restored to 15 men early in the second half Tavistock again had Newquay on the rack and were eventually rewarded with a try when the forwards drove a maul over the line from at least fifteen metres and Paul Creek grabbed the touchdown. Unfortunately Richard West's conversion attempt hit the upright and went wide.

With a quarter of an hour remaining Tavistock scored a third try this time lock Andy Shuttkacker galloped in from 40 metres. With time running out Newquay at last got into Tavistock territory and in the last move of the game claimed a consolation try when flanker Scott Traynor went over from close range.

* This Saturday Tavistock travel to North Petherton for a Western Counties fixture. Kick off 2.30pm.