Western Counties West

Tavistock 20

Bude 30

THE one that got away and a game of two halves are two ways of describing Tavistock's loss to Bude at Sandy Park on Saturday.

Despite conceding an early converted try Tavy dominated the first half scoring three unconverted tries to reach half time 15-7 in front and with an early try in the second half Tavy looked set for a much needed win.

But the last 30 minutes of the half was a complete reversal with Bude scoring four tries and kicking a penalty goal to secure the win which should, based on the first half have belonged to Tavistock.

A particularly galling aspect of the second half performance for coaches Lee Webber and Steve Luffman must have been that with Bude down to 14 men for ten minutes with a player in the sin bin instead of increasing their lead Tavistock leaked two tries to the 14 men.

From the kick off Tavistock put pressure on themselves by knocking the ball on giving Bude field position deep in the home side's territory and then conceded a try when weak tackling allowed Will Kingdon through to score. Matt Trewin converted.

This provided the wake up call Tavistock needed and they immediately put pressure on Bude. Among the forwards prop Tim Child was outstanding as were Tom Friend and Andy Hunt and the backs seemed much more fluent than in recent weeks with fly half Josh Sutton putting centres Doug Lloyd and James Kaminski in space.

Tavistock opened their scoring with a try from James Kaminski and then doubled their tally when teenaged winger Danny Luffman was released to score. Tavistock went to 15 points ahead with a try from Tim Child playing his best game of the season by far.

The opening minutes of the second half was again all Tavistock with skipper Andy Hunt getting a deserved score.

From here on to the dismay of Tavistock supporters the game was dominated by Bude they scored tries via Will Green, Olly Denfors, Blair Wickett and Steve Yates. Yates also added a dropped goal.

In the final minutes Tavistock forced their way into the Bude 22 but with time on their side the Bude defence held firm.