Devon 2 League Totnes 50 North Tawton .14 TOTNES made a characteristically robust start and put Tawton under pressure from the kick off. However Totnes put in two early tries, one with a conversion giving a 12-nil lead in about as many minutes. Tawton rallied for a period and good covering play and clearances from Del Matravers, combined with tackling by Phil Wonnacott, Gary Dennis and Andy Poole kept Totnes at bay. The pressure was kept on, however, and a Totnes scrum on Tawton?s 5 metre line led to break-off try. The good kicking of Hooper notched up the extra two points as Totnes moved in to a 19-nil lead. The penalty count was starting to rise and Totnes scrum half Mark Hooper punished Tawton with accurate kicks to touch. North Tawton did not panic and came right back into the match, with their one-man tackling machine, Phil Wonnacott, helping the visitors to pressurise the Totnes line. Close to the home try line Tawton?s front row pairing of Pearce and Danny Wonnacott attempted one of their trademark front-of-the-line moves, which unluckily did not come off; the follow up play, with Zac Matravers breaking in off the wing, nearly brought them a deserved score. In the last minutes of the half Totnes came back into the match as Tawton lost concentration and allowed the home side to score two more converted tries. They went into the break 38-nil ahead of North Tawton. Tawton started well, but Totnes were soon back in the groove as they worked a try which went unconverted. Ten minutes in and Tawton replaced fly half Paul Fewings with Tom Davis. The change sparked new enthusiasm in the Tawton team and some good phases of play brought them into the Totnes danger area. Del Matravers collected a loose ball and put in a good cross-field chip, which he followed up with an excellent tackle to pin Totnes back into their 22 metre zone. A scrum to Tawton close to the opposition line gave Phil Wonnacott the chance to break off the back. His pace and strength took him across the try line and he forced the two 2 points and put Tawton onto the scoreboard at 7-43. The play was now much more even and Totnes were able to counter with another try, converted again by Hooper. Tawton were holding their own in the lineouts and, by varying the throw-ins to Wonnacott at the back, were putting Totnes on the defensive. Davis put in two good penalty kicks to touch to keep Tawton on the offensive. Shortly afterwards another scrum, this time to Totnes, resulted in a rare mistake by them as the ball shot out of the back of their scrum. Tawton?s scrum half Martin Friggins snapped up the chance and the ball and darted to the line to score the visitors? second try. The conversion was again despatched by Davis to bring their score to 14 points.
