Tavistock made the short trip to the Rectory on Saturday, although the game was played on one of the Stonehouse pitches, writes Mark Lamerton.

Tavi looked to move the ball from the off with the experienced Andrew Yates pulling the strings at fly half.

The set piece functioned well for the Moorlanders and after securing possession from a lineout the ball was moved through the hands to the right hand side where flanker Jack Osborne broke through and scored the first try.

Devonport came back strongly and after a defensive mishap their pacey left wing darted over. Tavi took this in their stride and were soon back in front with Yates leading the way and scoring the away side’s second.

This was shortly followed by a score for prop Toby Teague, who owes fellow front rower Hammy Kerswill a pint after he selflessly passed when he looked like he could have gone over himself.

After going 10 points behind Services showed great character to come back into the game and they added a second try from their right wing before a penalty kick brought them back to within three points.

Tavistock stuck to their guns and kept playing a quick offloading game and soon had their man of the match Seb Cox break clear and race in from the 22-metre line.

The Moorlanders then treated their supporters to their best score. Running the ball from within their own half Tavi forwards and backs interchanged passes and offloads with neat passing from Yates, centre Ethan Lamerton and flanker Jack Lewis creating the overlap for outside centre Jack Rock to crash over on the left. George Hillson added the conversion to give Tavistock a healthy 29-15 lead at half time.

Tavistock started the second half brightly.

A series of phases and drives saw the ball come to second row Andrew Schuttkacker who powered over and Hillson added the extra two points. Tavi were finding space on the blindside and when the ball came back to the left Joe Burbage was on hand to round off another fine multi-phase score. Services were now starting to tire, and more quick handling saw the ball pop up for George Hillson who scored and then converted his own try. Devonport rallied in the last five minutes and secured their third try after a series of drives.

Next Saturday sees Tavistock home to Withycombe. They are the only side to have beaten the Moorlanders this season and so the club will want as many supporters as possible in attendance at Sandy Park to cheer them on. Kick off will be at 2.30pm.