Tavistock 26

Devonport High School Old Boys 18

AFTER a scrappy start, this proved to be an exciting game from which Tavistock claimed a much needed, but deserved victory.

Some slack defence from Tavistock in the opening minutes allowed the visitors to walk in two soft tries.

The home side kept their composure, however, and began to stamp their authority on the game by challenging more competitively for ruck ball.

By keeping the ball tight among the forwards, the Tavistock pack sucked in the opposing defence, allowing the backs to run effectively against them.

The pressure soon told on the young DHSOB side and dissent and forced errors gave fly half Martin Credicott the chance to claw back some points. This he did, and the half-time score was 13-12 to the visitors.

Tavistock took complete control in the second half but again let the visitors across the line through poor defence. Amends were made, however, and winger, Simon Beatty and scrum half 'Stan' Staniland both scored tries in reply. Credicott converted, and the game was well out of reach for the pretenders from Devonport.

This was a welcome result for Tavistock, sponsored by Langdon Transport, having allowed some winning opportunities to pass them by recently.

There were impressive performances from Lee Easton and Mark Baker and a solid return by hooker Rob Sleep.