Tavistock Colts 22
Newton Abbot Colts 15
ON a freezing windy day, Tavistock got back to winning ways with a performance of running rugby that saw them score all their points in the first half. Strong defence in the second half made sure that they restricted the opposition to two late tries.
Tavistock kicked off and early pressure saw several line-outs in which Tavistock dominated. One of these led to a drive which resulted in a penalty being given to Tavistock which Josh Leeson kicked for the opening score.
Newton Abbot then hit back and crossing by Tavistock resulted in a scrum being awarded which led to a penalty from which the visitors levelled the score. Tavistock hit back and after a period when they were camped in the opposition 22, a drive saw Joe Hair pick the ball up five metres out to go over and score the opening try. Lesson converted.
The tackling by the home side was keeping the visitors at bay. Probing runs from Jack Bond and Niall Murphy were stopped short by the visitors, however good handling resulted in the ball being fed out to George Rogers who touched down. Lesson converted.
The second half saw the visitors putting on the pressure but with great defence from Ali Dawe, who was outstanding throughout the whole game, Jez Cramoysan, Rob Hocking and Bond, the ball was fed to Leeson who cleared with a kick to touch.
The home forwards won the line-out and worked the ball out to Mark Friend who made ground. The ball was then fed out to Dan Oner who then made a run into the visitors 22 and off-loaded to Rogers who went in at the corner for his second try.
The visitors then upped the pressure which saw them score two tries in quick succession in the final 10 minutes of the game but Tavistock held on to win.
This was a good all round team performance that was a pleasure to watch.