Devon 1
Cullompton 3
Tavistock 8
TAVISTOCK came away with the points at Cullompton on Saturday but not having played well in this rather turgid affair.
Playing against a bigger pack the Tavistock forwards struggled to gain parity in set pieces and loose play and as a result their backs did not get much good ball going forward.
But the Tavistock defence was excellent and apart from one short passage of play early in the second half they restricted Cullompton to long range attacks.
Tavistock took the lead after five minutes when scrum half Lee Greatrex picked up the ball in broken play and ran in a try from halfway. Josh Sutton missed the conversion but made amends soon after with a penalty goal, which extended the Tavistock lead to eight points.
Tavistock had to absorb intense Cullompton pressure and the home side were unlucky to lose their hooker with a broken leg during this period. The Tavistock defence was excellent with Paul Greenhill and Tom Dawe tying up fringes around ruck and maul and Duncan Law and Mike Lyddon ensuring there was no way through centre field.
The second half saw Tavistock take more control with Lee Easton securing lineout ball at the front of the line, but they were unable to turn possession into points and it was Cullompton who scored via a penalty goal on the hour.
The Tavistock defence were unwilling to concede a try. Cullompton resorted to kicking deep into Tavistock territory in an effort to find a way through but found full back Mark Baker in good form - he ran the ball out of defence making good ground on a number of occasions.
Tavistock had the opportunity to increase their lead with just ten minutes remaining but Josh Sutton pushed his penalty attempt wide and near the end Law was unlucky not to get on the end of a chip through the Cullompton defence for a try.
On Saturday Tavistock travel to Wellington for their third round tie in the Powergen National Vase.