NORTH Tawton RFC 1st XV travelled to Kingsteignton, the home of New Cross and picked up a well-deserved away win, writes Chris Phare.

For most of the game though, this looked very unlikely with the vast majority of the first half played inside the Tawton 22 line.

The home team started the match pushing the Tawton defence back towards their own goal line, and it was taking a lot of effort and a fair bit of scrambling about very near the try line to keep them out.

Pressure told in the end and New Cross went over for two tries with about 20 minutes gone, taking a 10-0 lead but missing both conversions, which proved costly come the end of the game.

So the scene is set, North Tawton are 10-nil down, the home team have their tales up and are still putting Tawton under a lot of pressure, moving the ball around with bags of confidence.

Up galloped the fastest hooker in town James Miller, giving a replay of his try from the week prior.

From an interception, Miller got the ball in hand and went under the posts for another great try, this one even better than the last effort as he had to run it in from 45m not 40 like last week, with the conversion added.

This took the teams into the half-time break at 10-7 and although captain Goss told his side that the Tawts were still in it, they started the second half much like they did the first.

It didn’t take long for New Cross to extend their advantage, giving them a welcome 10-point lead.

At this point, it looked as if the match was slipping away from North Tawton, who had been hanging on by their fingertips to a side that know how to win at home.

But, and it’s a big but, the sheer determination of a North Tawton side that doesn’t know when it beat came alive.

The Tawts started getting more possession of the ball and they got their running game going, putting pressure on New Cross and the reward was a try from Luke Austin, kick added by Liam Pyle who never missed one all afternoon.

With the teams now just separated by three points and New Cross starting to get a bit nervous, North Tawton were then able to spend more welcome time in their opponent’s redzone.

Pyle stepped up to slot a penalty and draw the sides level. With the clock ticking down, the Tawts upped the pressure further and gained another penalty, Pyle giving them their first lead of the day.

From the restart, there were a few nervous moment with the home team having one last go at the Tawts try line but it was North Tawton who were celebrating at the final whistle, leaving New Cross to wonder how they managed to lose a game they looked to be in control of for large parts.

This result leaves New Cross in fifth and North Tawton in sixth with the victors 15 points behind but they still have two games in hand to cash-in. Elsewhere in their division, there were wins for Tiverton IIs, Cullompton IIs and Sidmouth IIs plus a home walkover for Okehampton IIs.