Devon 2 League North Tawton 17 Exeter Saracens 18 SARACENS kicked off into the wind, and got a well-taken penalty after about five minutes of pressure in the North Tawton zone which was converted. North Tawton immediately went on the offensive. A neat blind-side move involving Martin Friggins, flanker Phil Wonnacott and winger Dell Matravers nearly breached the Saracens defence but the ball was chipped too far and went into touch. A neat chip over the top by Tawton hooker Adrian Peirce took the ball into touch on the 5 metre line and an excellent line-out steal by Tawton?s Adam Hooper almost resulted in a score for the home side. North Tawton sustained the pressure and it was only a matter of time until a breakthrough came. From a lineout the Tawton axis of Peirce/Hooper provided quick ball for scrum half Martin Friggins to feed his fly-half Phil Wale. He slipped through a tackle and fed his centre Alfie May a perfectly weighted pass. May burst through the defence and with a couple of jinks threw off the defending tacklers to score an excellent try close to the left-hand post. Paul Fewings stepped up for the conversion to put North Tawton into a 7-3 lead. In the closing minutes of the half a huge clearance from Paul Fewings took Tawton back into the opposition half. Continued pressure brought a penalty opportunity just inside the Saracens? 22 metre line which Fewings duly converted as the half time whistle blew, leaving Tawton 10-3 ahead. Within minutes of the second half Phil Wonnacott had broken through, rolling out of two tackles and feeding a deft one-handed pass to supporting player Phil Wale. He was in exactly the right place to take the pass and dive over under the posts. Fewings again made the extra 2 points with the conversion and Tawton moved ahead to 17-3. Saracens are always at their most dangerous when the opposition relax and despite some good play by the Tawton squad, notably by Phil Wale at fly-half and Adam Hooper in the line-outs, it was the visitors who started to gain the edge. A frenetic phase of play caused the referee to use his whistle to steady things down. Finally, however, it was the strong running of the Saracens three-quarters which broke the deadlock. Sarries stormed through for their first try under the posts. The conversion followed by fly-half Harrison to bring them up to 10-17. Soon after this a penalty was conceded by North Tawton within range for Harrison to notch up a further 3 points for Saracens with a goal kick. Saracens were back in the game now and a second, unconverted try for their centre Pearce took them into the lead by 18 points to 17. In a fitting final minute drama, Tawton had the chance of a penalty kick to snatch back the lead. However the wind took the ball high and hanging, allowing Saracens to recover it and clear to touch and bring on the final whistle. Exeter Saracens II 22 North Okes 3 THE other half of the home and away fixture between North Tawton and Exeter Saracens was played by the joint development team North Okes, a combination side of players from North Tawton 2nd and Okehampton 3rd, this time also including some players from Crediton. The ethos of this squad is to give more experienced players and those newer to the sport opportunities for a match, when individual clubs do not have enough players to run 2nd and 3rd teams. It is a credit to this side that they also had 3 substitutes available on the day. Thus it was that a scratch team, many playing out of position with team mates they did not know, turned out under captain Neil Davis on the Saracens Exhibition Field ground. A hard, physical game ensued and it was the well-organised Saracens three-quarters which made the difference, their side running out winners with 22 points to 3. The North Okes? penalty was struck by scrum half Tom Davis, who had an excellent game and put in a number of telling tackles.
