Powergen Junior Vase sixth round

Campion 3

Tavistock 23

ON the RFU website in the week before this game Tavistock were referred to as ?mighty?, because in three previous rounds they had disposed of teams in higher divisions.

This win on Saturday against another team from a higher division was another mighty performance, with the forwards especially taking the plaudits by taking on and dominating the home pack.

Tavistock opened brightly by using the slope to keep Campion pinned deep inside their own half. But the Campion defence initially held firm. After the first quarter Tavistock had to be satisfied with a three-point lead courtesy of a Neil Evans penalty after a Campion forward had been penalised for killing the ball in a ruck.

Campion struck back and tested the Tavistock defence to the full, but sound tackling from Paul Greenhill, Lee Greatrex and Josh Sutton kept the Tavistock line intact. Campion had to be satisfied with a penalty goal after Tavistock were penalised for infringing at a maul.

As the half neared its end Tavistock were awarded a penalty deep in their own half and from the resulting quick throw Paul Greenhill took the ball on for the forwards to set up a ruck 20 metres from the Campion line. Scrum half Lee Greatrex broke the Campion cover and crossed for an unconverted try to give Tavistock an 8-3 lead at half-time.

Playing up the slope in the second half the Tavistock pack took control and great driving play, involving Andy Hunt and Dean Shipton, kept the side on the front foot.

At one scrum Tavistock pushed Campion back over their own line - Lee Greatrex dived into the back of the Campion scrum to claim the try. Evans converted and kicked a second penalty goal when Campion were caught infringing at a maul in an attempt to stop quick Tavistock ball.

The Tavistock pack remained dominant and the fresh legs of prop Rob Monk for Tom Hurdwell and flanker Jude Rotton for Matt Cole helped to keep the home team under pressure.

With ten minutes left Tavistock thought they had put the icing on the cake when the backs worked wing Josh Sutton in for a try.

But the referee disallowed the score after noticing a forward pass in the move.

The icing did eventually get applied when after another fierce forward drive Greatrex fed prop Steve Rush who just managed to make the try-line.

Soon after, at the final whistle, the players and supporters, a large number of whom had made the long journey to Essex to provide invaluable support to the team, were jumping with delight at the knowledge that Tavistock were now in the quarter-finals of this prestigious national competition.

This week sees Tavistock back in league action and travelling to Totnes.