Counties 2 Devon

Tavistock: 51

Devonport Services II: 5

Tavistock’s winning run continued with their sixth successive bonus-point win this season.

It was Devonport that started more brightly, however, and a powerful drive from their forwards gave them the games first try in the opening five minutes.

Tavistock seemed unfazed by this early setback and were quickly back in the Devonport half. Debutant Scrum Half Charles Bowden soon had his side back on the front foot with Tavi alternating attack down both the left and right channels. The ball was moved swiftly to the right where winger Connor Packwood showed good strength to score in the corner.

This signalled the start of a purple patch for the Moorlanders and they were soon on the attack again after centre Ethan Lamerton broke clear down the blindside and fed flanker Ryan Bragg who had the turn of speed to race in and finish, again in the right hand corner.

This was quickly followed by a third try for the home side. Second row Andrew Schuttkacker and George Hillson made the break and when stopped just before the line prop Toby Teague was on hand to pick and drive over the line. Not wanting his fellow prop to grab the limelight, Charlie Charlton put in a thundering tackle that stopped Devonport in their tracks, before being on hand five minutes later to burst over the line from five metres out and secure the bonus point winning score.

Bowden showed that he wasn’t just about going forward and he put in some big tackles to keep Tavi in the Devonport 22. This pressure told and after securing turnover ball the increasingly impressive flanker Jack Giddy drove over from close range. The half ended with Tavi up 29 to 5.

The second half started with a bang and inside the opening two minutes centre Jake Le Gassick, who caused Devonport problems all afternoon with his hard running, intercepted and raced in to score under the posts. This was shortly followed by a typically robust score from the base of the scrum by the versatile forward Jack Lewis. Lewis, who played number 8 on Saturday, has also played hooker, second row and flanker already this season and has given accomplished performances in every position. Devonport showed great character for the following 25 minutes and their defence held Tavi out until the last ten minutes. Some neat pacing and offloading between forwards and backs made space for Andrew Craddock to crash over from close range. This was followed by a fine solo effort from Hillson who, with the last play of the game, stepped his way clear and ran the ball in from the halfway line.