Cornwall and Devon

Honiton 30

Tavistock 12

TAVISTOCK can feel unlucky perhaps not to have salvaged a losing bonus point in this away game against one of the top sides in the league.

Playing with the slope in the first half Honiton used it to their advantage scoring two early tries — the first from a rolling maul and the second following some good back interplay. This looked ominous for the Moorlanders but in recent weeks they have gained a renewed sense of purpose and with fullback Josh Birch leading the way with three or four try saving tackles Tavistock managed to turn around at half-time 20 points behind. 

The second half saw the away side start to put together some phases of play of their own and with both the scrum and lineout functioning well Tavistock started to get on the front foot. Scrum half Hamish Dawson made a number of darting breaks and his box kicking put his side in the Honiton half. Backs Andrew Craddock, Ben Tharme and Josh Birch all made line breaks — one of which on the right wing saw flanker Jasper Cameron make a neat pass to Birch enabling him to put winger Jack Glover in the right hand corner.

Tavistock continued to play running rugby and prop Charlie Charlton got in on the action with a powerful drive down the left wing, combining well with centres Ethan Lamerton and Andrew Craddock.

Second row Seb Cox and back rowers Andrew Schuttkacker and Richard Cann all worked hard carrying the ball forward and contesting the breakdown. Fly half Jack Easton started to find his range with his passing and one excellent lofted pass found Birch running at full tilt. He rounded the one defender and dummied the full back to put Glover through for his second, which he finished skilfully. Easton added the tricky conversion from long range.

In the last quarter, however, Honiton showed why they are promotion contenders and their line speed made life difficult for Tavistock, forcing them into mistakes and conceding a further ten points.