Cornwall and Devon

Withycombe XV 35

Tavistock first XV 19

TAVISTOCK travelled to sunny exmouth for this fixture, knowing a tough game was ahead despite a home victory against the same opposition before Christmas.

The visitors will regret their poor start as an entertaining game was seemingly decided in the first 12 minutes. The hosts got off to a flyer scoring three well constructed tries against passive defence early on in the game, giving them a 21-0 lead.

The early dislocated finger of Josh O’Neill did not help the Moorlanders cause but a bit of belief saw the visitors opt to kick for corner rather than taking an easy three points, leading to a rare score for Tom Friend. Stables converting.

Further spells of possession paid off as a similar build up saw Stables sneak over for his debut try in his final game for Tavistock.

The second half was evenly poised at 21-14 and soon became closer when captain Schuttkacker successfully grounded the ball over line. Despite a scrum that was under much pressure, Tavistock still maintained much possession and defended well when without the ball. Unfortunately for the visitors it was too little, too late as Withycombe added a further two tries; the latter coming in the last play of the game as the West Devon outfit were unable to get a fourth and crucial try that would have earned them two valuable bonus points.