Tavistock 2nd XV 47
Paignton 2nd XV 0
TAVISTOCK, led by stand-in skipper Mark Ninnis, demolished the visitors with an awesome display of running rugby.
Having had a week off, it took a little time for the side to get back into the swing of things. But once the front row of Perkins, Welsh and Johns got to grips with their opposite numbers the red and blacks established a platform upon which they were able to assert pressure.
This resulted in a penalty, which Stan Staniland converted. He went on to have a near perfect day with the boot and along with Adrian Baker, Paul Edwards and Simon Thompson got Tavistock going forward.
This opened up the pitch and saw the move of the match, with the ball moving through eight pairs of hands before Glen Martin put in an intelligent chip for Gareth Davies to win the chase and score.
The next try saw second row Mike James barge through the Paignton defence to score under the posts and with another penalty kicked Tavistock went into the break with a good lead.
The second half had barely started when substitute John Longdon drove through the Paignton pack and showed great strength to touch down.
The extra breathing space resulted in more time for fly half Chris Woods, who began to run the show and powerful running by centre John Mallon meant Paignton were kept on the back foot.
Another substitute got himself onto the scoresheet after quick hands saw Australian Andrew Wright outpace the defence from 50 metres to score. Not wanting to leave anyone out, Ninnis retired from the fray to enable Neil Evans to come on.
His impact was almost immediate and he soon joined the scoresheet, Two further tries came, one by Paul Wiliams and one for the hard working Mike Lyddon.
This was the best display the side have put in for a long time. The man of the match was a shared honour with Chris Woods (fly half) and Chris Johns (tight head prop) receiving the accolade.