Merit league

Tavistock seconds 43

Torquay thirds 10

THIS was another solid display from Tavistock seconds to complete the double over Torquay.

The visitors arrived with a large, heavy pack but were quite unable to cope with the pace and movement of the home side. A fluent backs move ended with centre Sam Smerdon scoring the opening try for Tavistock after two minutes. Number eight Pete Davis broke from the back of a scrum on the Torquay 22 metre line and provided the scoring pass to scrum half Tom Rickard. A neat kick through by Smerdon led to wing Ben Palmer scoring the third try. Flyhalf Josh Leeson added a conversion and the home side were 17-0 ahead after 20 minutes.

Tavistock failed to secure the restart and after some driving play from the Torquay forwards, the visitors scored an unconverted try. The remainder of the half saw the home side doing most of the attacking, but some poor passing and handling, prevented any more scoring, until just before halftime, when full back Tom Whaley finished off another backs move to notch try number four.

Torquay started the second half in determined fashion and soon scored a second try from a rolling maul, to bring the score to 22 -10. However Tavistock ran in three further tries from centre Nick Lane, flanker Robin Jones and a second for Palmer. Leeson converted all three, to complete a comfortable win for the home side.

Tavistock's Pete Davis had an outstanding game; the pack strove manfully against a heavier Torquay pack while their were good performances from Martin Credicott and Lee Easton in another good team performance.