Cornwall and Devon

Withycombe RFC 10

Tavistock 17

TAVISTOCK secured their fifth league win in a row with a workmanlike display against a Withycombe side that defied their position at the foot of the Devon and Cornwall league.

The home side started the more strongly and with the wind at their backs they kicked deeply in to the Tavistock half whenever they had the opportunity. Fortunately for the Moorlanders the Withycombe lineout failed to function and when they should have been applying pressure Tavistock were able to steal the ball and clear their lines. This forced Withycombe to keep the ball in hand and some hard lines run by both forwards and backs paid dividends with their centre crashing over to score under the posts, giving his fly half an easy conversion.

This snapped Tavistock into life and with their set piece functioning well hooker Hammy Kerswill found his jumpers Leion Cole, Seb Cox and Andrew Schuttkacker and clean lineout ball helped them make progress into the Withy half. Winger Tom Charlesworth broke clear and found Cole in space but the second row was unable to find support and was stopped by the defending fullback.

Nevertheless, Tavistock kept the pressure on and after a series of five metre scrums they were rewarded when number eight Schuttkacker powered over from close range. Withycombe were not in the mood to roll over though and after a series of phases they secured a penalty, which their fly half slotted from some distance.

Again the game ebbed and flowed and Tavistock were soon back on the offensive. Some more driving play from forwards Jamie Legg and Charlie Charlton opened up an overlap on the right hand side where neat passing along the backline via Ethan Lamerton and Andrew Craddock saw space open for full back Jack Glover. He looked to put winger Ash Toll over in the left hand corner, only for a tackle to knock the ball out of his hands as the half ended with Withycombe 10-5 ahead.

Tavistock looked to up the pace in the second half and centre Andrew Craddock made several breaks and caught a lovely looking chip and chase to keep the pressure on Withy. In damp conditions some more good work by the visitors at the lineout saw them start to get their driving maul going forward. Playing for long periods inside the home 22 Tavistock kept hammering away but Withycombe defended strongly. They could not hold out indefinitely, however, and after Jack Lewis and Joe Hair went close Hammy Kerswill made the break through and his strong drive saw him bag his first try in 10 years of rugby. Rob Pratt added the tricky conversion.

As the game moved into the last quarter Tavistock were in the ascendency and Jack Glover and Ethan Lamerton both made breaks but were unable to link up with their supporting runners. Withycombe did have another shot at goal but were unlucky to hit the post. The decisive score came after another set of forward driving plays created space for the backs and after Craddock run a clever dummy line Lamerton found centre Louis Cockcroft, who smashed through the Withy defenders for a well worked score. Unfortunately, Pratt could not add the conversion.

Tavistock looked to keep the pressure on a tiring Withycombe side but were unable to break them down for the bonus point score but still were happy to come away with their second away win in two weeks.