Tavistock RFC XV 17 Redruth Development XV 10 On a pitch that was only just playable and in wet and miserable weather, the two sides served up a fine game. The conditions suggested that it would be a slog among the forwards but both teams contrived to play running rugby for the whole 80 minutes. Tavistock fielded a side made up of both first and second team members, and although it was a good all round team performance there were outstanding contributions from Josh Sutton and Gareth Lovell at half back and Matt Witcher who started off at fullback but switched to centre when Doug Lloyd went off injured after 10 minutes. Tavistock forwards, with flanker Will Brown prominent throughout, took the game to Redruth right from the start and after continuous pressure, the forwards provided good ball for the backs to run in a fine try after five minutes, finished off by Witcher. Tavistock held the upper hand for much of the first half but the next score was by Redruth who broke quickly out of defence and a kick and chase ended with fullback Lewis Vinicombe scoring after half an hour. Tavistock went back on the offensive and right on halftime a five metre scrum resulted in number eight Andrew Griffiths forcing his way over the line for a deserved score. Josh Sutton converted to make it 12 - 5 at halftime. The home side made some substitions at halftime but this did not affect their game. They started the second half as they had ended the first and although the visitors defended their line stubbornly, after five minutes of non-stop attack, another good handling move across field saw Josh Sutton give the scoring pass to his brother Ben, who ploughed over in the corner. Although conditions deteriorated, both teams continued to try and play an open game but there was no further scoring until four minutes from time when Redruth scored a try from a catch and drive by number eight Jason Pengelly. Referee Ian Freestone handled the game well in the tricky conditions, although he had difficulty in distinguishing the teams from each other, as they were by then both a uniform muddy colour.
