Friendly

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Bideford thirds 31

FROM the off North Tawton put Bideford under pressure, gaining a penalty and lineout on the visitors' five metre line.

The ball was fed off the back of the resulting melee by Tawton captain Richard Gould to fly half Jamie Stevens who threaded the defending line to touch down for the first try; this he also converted.

Bideford came back immediately and had a lineout 15 metres out. Off the back of this their hooker Carl Morgan set off on an angled run to penetrate Tawton's defence for a good individual try. This was converted by centre Alex Hillman to level the scores. Within minutes they got the ball over the whitewash again but the try was disallowed for a previous infringement.

On the half hour Tawton gained another penalty kick and lineout on Bideford's five metre line and once again good ball retention by their pack made the ball available for Stevens to step back inside the defending players to score his second try, which he also converted.

A telling break down the left by Tawton centre Nick Weldon set up another attack for the home side, leading to a lineout close to the Bideford try line. A good take by Andy Pyle resulted in a try for number eight Steve King from the ensuing maul.

On the stroke of half time Tawton were gifted a penalty on the Bideford five metre line when they went offside while trying to clear a long kick. Tawton capitalised on the confusion to take a quick tap penalty which went out to the three-quarters for centre Karl Pearce to go over for his first try. The conversion by Stevens gave a half time scoreline of 26-7 to North Tawton.

The second half opened with Bideford determined to even the score and soon their front row player Jamie Evans crossed Tawton's line for an unconverted try. North Tawton replied almost immediately as Pearce benefitted from a Bideford fumble in defence to crash through for his second try taking the score to 31-12 for the home side.

Bideford staged a comeback and Evans scored his second try from a ruck on Tawton's line. Tawton hit back with a try by prop James Miller, coming round the front of a lineout, taking the score to 36-17. Then Bideford scored two good tries in quick succession, the first coming from a break by centre Ben Smart and the second following a kick and chase down the left flank with full back Lee Faux getting the touchdown. Smart converted both to bring Bideford to close the gap as North Tawton's led at 36-31.

With the last play of the match it was appropriate that the final try and conversion went to North Tawton's Jamie Stevens who had enjoyed a good afternoon's rugby, taking the final score to 43-31.