Friendly

Brixham seconds 17

Tavistock 38

TAVISTOCK Rugby Club's season is building nicely as they opened up their campaign with an entertaining friendly with Brixham.

Tavistock have worked hard during pre-season and have made developments both on and off the field. The squad has been boosted by several new recruits, the promotion of exciting ex-colts, and the recovery of injured players. Off the pitch, the club has finished the development of the new pitch which will be officially opened on September 20.

Tavistock travelled to Brixham with a squad of 23 players - a much changed side from last year including eight debutants.

The visitors began brightly forcing Brixham onto the back foot, trying to play a balanced game of forward power and expansive running rugby. Tavistock would have been ahead early on but Brixham defence held firm.

The visitors broke the deadlock after 15 minutes. Joe Hair smashed through two tacklers and the ball was quickly recycled and quick hands from the backs put debutant Nick Cunningham in for a try in the corner. Josh Leeson knocked over the conversion from wide out. Brixham responded well working their way down the field but strong tackling from Dan Oner and aggressive rucking from Andrew Griffiths and Andrew Kaka repelled their attacks.

Tavistock had more success in the second quarter scoring three unanswered tries.

The first came from a set piece move with the back three of Simon Braithwaite, Brennan Telfer and Will Glover combining nicely finishing with Glover collecting a kick over the top to score under the posts. Leeson converted. They then scored a contender for try of the season. Duncan Law collected the kick off and broke past some would be tacklers before releasing George Rodgers who linked well with centre partner James McDowell. Quick hands saw the ball return to Law who sprinted in from 30 metres.

Tavistock's fourth try came through the forwards, with efficient pick and go drives from Joe Gosling and Gareth Buttock supported by the rest of the pack opening up a hole for Lloyd James to score from less than a metre out. Leeson converted.

Tavistock lost their way after half time and Brixham hit back with three tries. The visitors struggled to deal with a loose lineout and the Brixham pack set up a driving maul and crashed over for their first points. With their tails up, Brixham opened up the Tavistock defence and a last gasp tackle from Ben Murphy could not prevent another score. Brixham's final score came from a sloppy pass from Tim Child which went straight to the opposition's fly half who finished off the gift from five metres.

In the last quarter, Tavistock regrouped thanks to re-introduction of Robin Jones and Danny Luffman who both worked tirelessly.

The forwards showed their power in the scrum stealing one against the head. Law broke from the base and showed a good turn of pace before putting Jones in for a deserved try. Leeson converted.

Tavistock sealed the win when the forwards disrupted a Brixham lineout and turned over the ball due to great work at the breakdown from Law, James and Oner, allowing David Goodspeed to round off a committed performance by scoring in the corner.

A special mention should go to Leeson who directed the performance from fly half and Doug Lloyd for his wonderful running lines.

Tavistock RFC play a friendly at home this Saturday against higher league opposition Wadebridge.