Brixham Colts 13
Tavistock Colts 20
IN perfect conditions, Tavistock started well only to be pinned back into their own 22 by strong running from the Brixham centres.
Tavistock then gave away a penalty in front of the posts to present Brixham with a 3 point lead. From the restart the forwards quickly made amends with consistent line-out wins by Oner and Jones allowing Leeson to make good use of his accurate right boot.
Reward for Tavistock's increasing possession came after 10 minutes when good handling across the backs saw Bond beat three Brixham players to score in the corner.
A tough period of play then saw Tavistock's territorial gains given away by needless infringements. Fortunately Brixham, who were always dangerous in the loose, were not able to take advantage and powerful tackling gradually saw Tavistock forwards gain dominance.
A good Tavistock scrum on the left hand side then saw Murphy retrieve the ball which passed through all the backs to the far side of the pitch for Coker to burst past his opposite number and score in the corner.
Brixham again pressed Tavistock and worked the ball well to their overlapping full back whose try brought the score to 8-10 at half time.
The second half saw Tavistock gradually take control with powerful forward play and good half back control providing a platform for the increasingly confident backs.
Brixham were not deterred and against the run of play, broke through the defence to take the lead. Substitutions by coach Will Reed gave Tavistock fresh legs after which they struck back with a Leeson penalty and then secured the game with a well worked backs' try allowing Cunningham to close out the game.
This was a good performance from the whole team showing the benefit of the hard work on the training ground during the start of the season.