Exeter Saracens 5
Tavistock 50
TAVISTOCK maintained their place at the top of Devon division 1 with a victory which they eventually made emphatic in a stunning second half display.
Tavistock started brightly, opening the scoring with a try from winger Mark Baker. The second was scored by centre Matt Witcher, after Neil Evans and Josh Sutton had combined well on the narrow side to make space for Witcher to power his way to the line. Neil Evans converted one of these two scores.
Tavistock should have extended their lead immediately after they scored their second try. They collected the restart and a sweeping move involving forwards and backs ended only metres from the Saracens' line when the ball was knocked on.
Tavistock then seemed to go off the boil and allowed Saracens a try. The forwards tried to run the ball out of defence and lost the ball in contact, allowing Saracens a broken field to exploit which resulted in the try.
A further opportunity was created by Evans when he chipped the Saracens' defence; allowing Phil Allen to collect the ball on the full only to be foiled by an excellent defensive tackle from the Saracens' full back.
A further opportunity was created at the end of the first half when centres Witcher and Duncan Law combined. A desperate tackle prevented Witcher from scoring. Unfortunately he was injured in the process and was forced to leave the field.
The second half was all Tavistock, Andy Hunt and Lee Easton provided excellent possession from the lineout allowing the back row of Andrew Griffiths, Jude Rotton and Tom Dawe to create havoc on broken play. From this scrum half Lee Greatrex was able to use his pacey backs to good effect.
Winger Mark Baker was the first to score and further tries followed from Evans, Rotton, Law, Dawe and finally Dan White who, playing out of position on the wing, had an excellent game. Evans converted four of the scores.
This week sees Tavistock travel to Saltash for a second round game in National Powergen Junior Vase.