Friendly

Tavistock Colts 31

Okehampton Colts 29

DESPITE this game being a friendly fixture both teams gave it their all in a fiercely contested contest.

Tavistock playing up the slope in the first half looked to get the ball wide and scored the opening try when centre James Lewis cut a great line from 15 metres out, after fly half Chris Watts found him with a nicely delayed pass.

The home side struggled to contain Okehampton’s big ball carrying forwards and the away side capitalised on this strength and crashed over for their first try. They added a second shortly after Tavistock looked in trouble. Some strong driving play, though, from Tavistock forwards Ben Luke and Richard Cann helped them to get back into the game and Jack Easton was unlucky not to score after breaking clear from the base of scrum, getting stopped just before the line.

Shortly after Tavistock were awarded a penalty deep inside the Okehampton half. Full back Ben Milligan saw an opportunity and took a quick tap to jink his way through and score a fine solo try. Jack Easton added the conversion to give Tavistock a two point lead at the half way point in the game.

In the second half Okehampton made a lot of yards with their right winger running strongly. Tavistock, however, were starting to win a few turnovers and one of these near to their own line was moved quickly by Chris Watts to Ethan Lamerton; he broke through and ran clear to the hallway line before linking with Ben Milligan who in turn passed to James Lewis to run in his second. Okehampton then got the bit between their teeth and some impressive driving maul work from the lineout earned them the next couple of tries.

Another flowing backs’ move from Tavistock earned Ben Milligan a second try, before back rower Toby Teague crashed over from wide out for the home team to set up a frantic last ten minutes. With only minutes left to play Okehampton powered over for their fifth try but missed the conversion, which meant they were two points behind. The referee advised that there was time for the restart but that the game was over the next time the ball went dead.

Okehampton held on to possession and drove Tavistock back up the pitch through a series of pick and goes only to suffer the disappointment of knocking the ball on and bringing an enthralling game to an end.