Tavistock RFC . . . . . 51
Topsham . . . . . . . . . . . 0
ON a cold and very windy day Tavistock immediately tried to play their normal brand of fast open rugby. This initially did not pay dividends but by the end of the game, as Topsham tired, Tavistock were able to produce the goods for a convincing win which keeps them out in front at the top of Devon Division One.
Tavistock opened brightly with Neil Evans at fly half and centres Duncan Law and Mike Lyddon testing Topsham's midfield defence and wingers Mark Baker and Ben Neale having opportunities out wide.
Tavistock eventually opened the scoring after fifteen minutes of the first half when they worked full back Josh Sutton in for a try on the wide left.
This score was followed by a brace of tries for the Tavistock second row.
First Darren Cole broke through to score then Andy Hunt pounced on some sloppy defending by Topsham for a touch down. Sutton converted one of the tries.
However, Tavistock were reduced to fourteen men for ten minutes towards the end of the first half when former Cornwall captain Dean Shipton was sin binned. This provided the spur for Tavistock to up their efforts in defence, where Paul Greenhill was outstanding, to ensure they kept their line intact.
Early in the second half Tavistock started to pull away with Dean Shipton leading the way with a hat trick of tries.
Josh Sutton added a second try and there were also scores from hooker Rob Sleep, who was driven over the line by his forward colleagues and a trade mark try from skipper Lee Greatrex who broke away from a scrum and darted over the line. Sutton converted two second half tries.
On Saturday Tavistock travel to St Austell where they take on Mounts Bay in the Quarter Final of the Powergen National Vase kick off 2:00pm.
Lots of support please for this vital game against the side top of the Devon and Cornwall League.