Tavistock U12s 21

Barnstaple U12s 7

TAVISTOCK persisted with team changes in preparation for the forthcoming new season.

Rowlands returned to his customary position of prop and started to use his strength in the scrummage. This allowed Barnes to demonstrate his improving skills at hooker with some clean strikes for the ball. Matt Smith on the other side of the front row was awesome in loose play with his strong individual mauling.

In the second row the powerhouse pairing of Leeson and Oddie continued with Leeson dominating the tail end of the lineouts and Oddie showing his impressive work rate with two well taken tries.

At scrum half the injured Lane was replaced with Smerdon who scored the try of the match. From an attacking lineout the ball was passed to Thompson who put up a high kick that landed on the opponents? try-line. Smerdon, following up, caught the ball and dived over for the try.

At outside half Milligan was in fine form and allowed the big|inside centre O?Neill to run with his ability to wreak havoc among the defence. Evans started one of his mazy runs down the touchline only to be stopped by a foot in touch. Jon Smith showed his defence capabilities on the other wing have improved well this season.

At half time Roberts replaced Barnes and Warlow came onto the wing, both showing determination in the attacking parts of play. James at full back had a quiet day but still converted all the tries.

Barnstaple U9s 20

Tavistock U9s 0

ON a glorious day the young team travelled to the north coast and took part in a great game of rugby.

Barnstaple seemed to have the edge and took the game with two tries either side of half time. But the Tavistock players did not disgrace themselves in anyway. Their set pieces were textbook and their mauling technique kept them in the game. There were strong runs from Edward Longdon and Michael Brain and Monty Burfield kept Barnstaple on their toes with dashing runs on the wing.

Jack Coiley and sub Jonathan Witherstone provided excellent support play while Mathew Edwards provided further supporting runs. Hallam Bourton showed great skill stealing the ball on his own try line and taking it to the halfway point, only to run into a solid defence.

Paddy Ferguson gave a good show of passing movement while his brother Louis, captain for the day, produced the tackle of the day in a real try stopper.

Barnstaple U10s 25

Tavistock U10s 0

THE scoreline failed to do justice to the efforts of Tavistock who were missing many of their more experienced players and were up against a well organised side.

The first half was evenly matched with both sides applying pressure on the opposition in equal measure. The Barnstaple defence held strong and despite several good attacking runs Tavistock were unable to cross their line. The half ended with Barnstaple ahead by two tries.

Tavistock had hopes of reducing the deficit in the second half, but the greater physical size of the home team began to take its toll. As Tavistock began to tire further pushover tries were conceded, despite holding their own well in open play.

Jack Haigh at full back was as reliable as ever in stopping a number of Barnstaple?s running moves and recent additions to the Tavistock squad, Charlie Hubbard and Rufus Gould, made valuable contributions in their first full game.

Tavistock U16s 0

Barnstaple U16s 53

TAVISTOCK put up a brave show but were beaten by a well drilled side. Weak home side tackling let in at least four unnecessary tries.

The Tavistock back row of Ian Jones and twins Lloyd and Alex Nail worked tirelessly, despite the hard ground and hot conditions.

Colin Jones closed his opposite number down whenever possible and was starting to make half breaks until he had to leave the field with a toe injury. Adam Green showed useful clearances from full back.

Man of the match: Lloyd Nail.

Barnstaple U11s 35

Tavistock U11s 7

TAVISTOCK gave a gritty performance against a bigger and well drilled side.

The game was evenly matched for the first ten minutes with strong tackling, particularly by Oliver Frost who kept the Barnstaple attacks out.

Tavistock came close to scoring on a couple of occasions with fast breaks by Marc Smeardon who linked well with the three-quarters.

The second half started with ferocious forward play by Tavistock, James Grant leading his pack on a 20-metre rolling maul upfield. The pressure was maintained and with a ruck formed on the Barnstaple line Josh Evans pounced on the ball to score his first try for Tavistock in only his second game.

Tavistock continued to defend against some fast and determined attacks, Kirsty McCall again providing try-saving tackles.

As Tavistock legs tired Barnstaple ran in two late tries.

This Sunday 10am at Sandy Park.