Western Counties West

Tavistock 10

Burnham-on-Sea 27

A STRONG Burnham side showed no signs of a long coach trip as they secured a bonus point win in the first 15 minutes. 2014 kicked off for Tavistock with a tough challenge against promotion contenders from Somerset.

Tavistock started strongly and the first visit to the visitors' 22 almost resulted in a try when West spotted a gap behind the defence and directed a pin point kick into the path of Edwards; he collected well but the ball went forward as he passed inside to Friend, who could have strolled over for the first points of the game.

This appeared to shock the visitors into action as for the next 10 minutes they dominated in all areas of the pitch. Using their experienced fly half to dictate the play they worked the ball around the pitch using the direct running of their strong forward pack. The Tavistock defence became disjointed and despite some good individual tackling from Lloyd James and Dom Connor the home side could not hold out and Burnham crossed for their first try, the conversion drifted wide 0-5 to the visitors.

By the time Tavistock had re-gathered they were back under their own posts again; a mistake from a long kick led to quick turnover ball and Burnham's 15 ran a try in the corner unchallenged; this time the conversion was successful resulting in an early 0-12 lead from the away side.

As Tavistock tried to stem the tide, once again a lapse in concentration led to a mistake and the away side demonstrated a bit more urgency and hacked through, as the Burnham full back chased the ball an accidental collision was adjudged to deny Burnham a try and the referee awarded a penalty try; an easy conversion led to a 0-19 deficit for Tavvy.

With the bonus point in sight for Burnham they kept up the intensity of their attacking play and straight from the kick off worked their way up field. Constant challenges at the breakdown from Tavistock flanker Duncan Law were cleared well by Burnham allowing them quick ball; a mismatch out wide was spotted and the away side's winger cruised over to get the bonus point try; a missed conversion set the game at 0-24.

At this point the game could have easily run away to be a complete whitewash but Tavistock did not buckle. Their confidence grew and strong running from Mark Friend released Ben Hadfield to storm up the wing on a couple of occasions making good yards. The home side finished the first half well with a rolling maul crossing the Burnham line only to be held up.

As the second half kicked off, Tavistock strung together some good phases of play resulting in a number of penalties being given to the Moorlanders due to infringements by Burnham. Quick taps supported well by the strong running of Josh O'Neil and substitute Josh Langton moved Tavistock closer to the Burnham line. Quick ball was illegally killed by the visitors' centre who was yellow carded for his contribution.

The pressure continued from Tavistock and they worked the ball wide to the constant threat of Lewis Edwards; he beat two players and managed to work the ball inside to centre Doug Lloyd, a stretch for the line and the try was confirmed by the Devon referee, 5-24.

A fight back from Burnham played themselves into the home side's 22 where they were given a penalty for an offside home player; a sign of the improved performance by Tavistock was reflected in their decision to kick at posts rather than the corner 5-27.

As the game moved into the last 10 minutes Tavistock continued to challenge the Burnham defence; quick ball was being provided by second row Andrew Griffiths enabling replacement Josh Sutton to distribute well. A move along the back line worked the ball again to Edwards, good footwork and strength enabled him to outpace the opposition winger and full back to touch down with the last play of the game ending in a final result of 10-27.

Tavistock will look to take the positive second half performance.