Devon one

NORTH Tawton kicked off in the face of heavy rain and in the wet and windy conditions it was inevitable that with the ball like a bar of soap there were quite a few handling errors – both sides struggling to keep the ball alive.

It was the home side that got their act together first with a clever kick over the on- coming defence by the scrum half followed by a good pick up and dot down by Matt Baker for the first try; the kick added by James Bowden made it 7-0  after 12 minutes.

While the rain began to ease, the conditions were still making it difficult to play the running type of game North Tawton enjoy but they did find the Totnes try line for the second time; Gary Sizmur took advantage of some strong support play up the middle by man of the match Ryan Goss to touch down; the not so easy kick was added by James Bowden to make it 14-0 at half time.  

North Tawton started the second half with the wind behind them and full of confidence ­— their target now was the bonus point for four tries.

At this point Totnes had not really threatened North Tawton’s try line with any great purpose and they would get as far as the 22 before it would break down for them.

It was proving more difficult in the wet and cold for the home side to get the try tally moving towards that important bonus point but with a good run and slipping tackles Si Cox scored a third try for North Tawton; with the kick missed it was 19-0.

In the last third North Tawton were down to 14 with a yellow for a high tackle but Totnes were struggling to keep the full 15 on the field with injuries taking a big toll on any fight back they could have made.

With 10 minutes to go North Tawton scored their fourth, well deserved try, Gary Sizmur taking his second of the afternoon making sure that that North Tawton collected all the points available.

This result keeps the pressure on title rivals Exeter Athletic.