Tavistock RFC 3
Sidmouth RFC 10
SIDMOUTH are the only team Tavistock have not beaten in the league this season, although the two games they lost were by the smallest of margins.
But it was Sidmouth that Tavistock beat last season to become holders of the Devon Junior Cup, so both teams started this quarter-final cup match with belief in their ability to win.
The pitch had not recovered from last week?s match, and the sticky conditions slowed the game. Sidmouth started with the wind and slope advantage, and kept Tavistock in their own half for the majority of the first half.
Tavistock?s defence was, again, superb, but ten minutes before half-time, the Sidmouth hooker rolled out of a maul on Tavistock?s five-yard line to score. Tavistock scrum-half Josh Sutton replied shortly before half-time when he slotted the first of his penalty attempts.
Sidmouth started the second half well, managing to move the ball effectively for the first time in the game.
The smallest breach in Tavistock?s defence was all that was needed and Sidmouth scored their second try.
From this moment the game was completely under Tavistock?s control. They retained possession well and combined effective support play with ?up and unders? from Martin Credicott, to great effect.
Time and again Tavistock found themselves within scoring positions, but were unable to breach the fierce defence. This came at a cost to Tavistock who, having entered the game short of several key players, lost Darren Cole to cracked ribs and Barney Dunstan to a broken nose.
Tavistock can concentrate on their healthy league position now, but they still have to rely on OPMs dropping a game to put them within promotion contention.
The one consolation is they do not have to play Sidmouth again this season, who have cost them the Devon Junior Cup and, possibly, promotion from Devon 1.