Merit league

Tavistock seconds 116

Totnes seconds 5

IN their final Merit league match of the season Tavistock seconds proceeded to run riot with an 18 try walloping of the home side.

Tavistock spent the first eight minutes giving centre Doug Lloyd catching practise and he made the first break to put wing Ben Hadfield in for the first try.

This was followed 60 seconds later with Tavistock's other wing Sam Smerdon running the kick-off straight back for the second try.

Totnes managed to keep their line intact for the next 10 minutes but then the floodgates opened and Tavistock's speedy backs ran in six more tries in the 20 minutes before halftime, with prop Simon Parisio also bustling his way over the line to record a score from the forwards. Seven conversions from centre Nick Lane, brought the score to 59-0 at halftime.

The second half continued in the same vein and Tavistock scored a further nine tries, all from flowing moves, played at pace.

The home side stuck to the task for the entire 80 minutes and the Totnes forwards competed well in the set scrums and lineouts, but once the visitors started moving the ball across the pitch, the home side could not cope with the pace. To their credit, Totnes plugged away and were rewarded with a try from a rolling maul two minutes from the end.

Colt Jez Croyason was playing his first full senior match and had a stylish, confident game at fly half. Fellow Colt Hallam Bourton came on as a replacement lock and was prominent in the lineout. Ben Hadfield's outstanding display of attacking wingplay, was the pick of a number of good performances from the Tavistock side.

This concluded a successful season for Tavistock Seconds, who finished third in Devon Merit league division two and runners-up in the Plymouth RNEC cup.              

Try scorers for Tavistock were: Ben Hadfield 7 (possibly a club record for one match), Dan Luffman 3; Mark Friend 2; Smerdon 2 and LLoyd; Lane; Jez Croyason and Parisio one each. Conversions: Lane 12, Hadfield.