Devon Merit

Tavistock Moorlanders 36

Teignmouth seconds 23

THANKS to the hard work of the club's volunteer groundsmen, this Merit league game was able to be played on a heavy, well grassed pitch.

From the kick off, the Moorlanders went straight on to the attack and after several quick phases from the forwards, lock Andy Schuttkacker burst through the visitors' defence to put the first try after three minutes. Flyhalf Tom Thursby added the conversion. Tavistock continued to press and enjoyed much of the possession but with players getting isolated and poor ball retention the home side failed to add to their score.

Teignmouth started to make an impression through their bulky forwards and after an infringement from one of the home side, kicked a penalty midway through the half.

Play continued to ebb and flow and a few minutes before half-time another series of drives from the home forwards led to Thursby slicing through the Teingmouth defence for a fine try. With the final play of the half, Teignmouth scored a good try from a line out catch and drive and with a successful conversion, the interval arrived with the Moorlanders holding a slender lead of 12-10.

Tavistock gave away a penalty early in the second half, that was successfully kicked, to put the visitors into the lead.

The Moorlanders played in fits and starts, but more good play from the forwards led to Marc Kerswill finishing off some good approach work with a try for the home side.

Teignmouth replied with another penalty and shortly afterwards, their pack mauled their way over for a try which was well converted from wide out to lead 23-19.

The Moorlanders responded with some of their best play of the game and despite having the influential Schuttkacker sin-binned, were now dominating all over the field and ran in three more tries in the final 15 minutes.

The first came from replacement scrumhalf Matt Witcher after some good handling by the backs. Next, centre Nick Lane cut through the Teignmouth defence and with the last move of the game, hooker Ash Toll rounded off a fine game from him jinking past some tired defenders. Thursby added a conversion for the final score.

Up against a far heavier pack, the Moorlanders' props Dave Welsh and Liam Mills and second row men Steve Long and Jack Jones scrummaged well to stop the visitors taking control. Tom Friend worked tirelessly while centre Greg Moore was also prominent in what was another good display from the Moorlanders.