Tavistock Second XV took to the field this weekend in a double header; a league game and the semi-final of the Ellis Cup against Plympton Victoria, writes Marc Kerswill.

It was wet and windy at Sandy Park, which you would have thought would make it a low-scoring, scrappy game.

Someone forgot to tell the home side that as within five minutes they made their way up the field. A strong run from Jarred Hunter saw a good tackle take him out just five meters from the line. Some excellent line-out pressure from Jack Giddy put the pressure on the away team and scrum half Freddie Fuller went over for the opening score.

From the restart the influential Richard Cann showed some fancy footwork which led to the next Moorlanders attack. The Moorlanders found themselves back in the opposition 22 again from an attacking scrum five meters out. Sean Donnelly ran a great line off of fly half Chris Watts to make it 10-0.

The home side then went on to score another, Mark Wheatley finding himself in space from a strong run and offload from front row Jason Ward. Moorlanders went in 15-0 at the break with the travelling side finding it hard to get in to game due to some great defence forcing mistakes.

The second half saw The Moorlanders going down the slope and it did not take long for them to get another five points on the board, scored by young front row Antonio Stan. Try converted by Jarred Hunter, making it 22-0.

The Moorlanders then really started to flow and move the ball across the pitch with ease exposing the away team, returning Danny Oner making his presence known with some great decoy runs and smart attacking play with ball in hand keeping the defence guessing.

The next score for the home side came from Richard Cann off the back of a dominant scrum; 27-0.

Darren Guppy scored the home side’s sixth try of the afternoon, straightening the attack up midfield and went in unopposed under the sticks, converted by Lovering for 34-0.

Lovering then got on the score sheet himself after coming on at half time and making a couple mistakes, and did not put a foot wrong for the rest of match, showing some good footwork when gathering the ball at full back for 39-0.

The last score was from Danny Oner and converted by Lovering bringing the final score to 46-0. Credit to the away side who kept making the Moorlanders work for each of their scores. This takes the Moorlanders into a fourth consecutive Plymouth Combination final, which will be held late on in April.

Next Saturday sees a short journey to Plymouth Argaum for a friendly fixture.