Devonport U18s girls 29

Tavistock U18s girls 57

WINTER weather had cancelled most matches but luckily Devonport were able to invite the town girls at short notice to use their all weather pitch.

A sharp shower on a biting wind made no difference to the handling conditions: neither quagmire nor slippery ball would now inhibit fast exciting rugby.

Unfortunately, with the offloading game seeming to be the correct strategy, at the outset panic seemed to set in and the ball went everywhere but to hand.

A breakout try by Lizzie Crocker from the base of the scrum opened the scoring for Tavistock. Few fluent movements graced the beautiful pitch, until Lauren Dawe at stand- off took the ball and waltzed her way through the opposition with a clear run to the line.

After 10 minutes play and with only 12 points on the board, the mould was broken. New found skills of accurate inter-passing allowed fast flowing rugby: unfortunately, the opportunities were shunned by Tavistock but now taken well by Devonport, as they stormed back with a try and a converted try to level the score.

Insistent running and varied passing by visiting captain Flo Rodgers soon had the ball moving down the line. On the wing Thea Crosby outpaced the Devonport defence to score under the posts. But more followed; in an almost exact replica movement, she was again bursting round the outside to score.

Hardly had the second half started, the ball spun out down the Tavistock line to Thea Crosby's hands and she was again in space to outpace the defence to score her hat-trick. Lauren Dawe scored another try as did Lizzie Crocker.

Jess Tait in the second row had her best match of the season. She started two of the moves from the maul which resulted in tries for Thea Crosby. She was always in the middle of the foraging pack giving a great platform for the Tavistock backs.

Hannah Morris hardly put a foot wrong during the match. Two try-saving tackles and several aggressive runs showed her potential.

This match was again well contested, and Tavistock were grateful to Devonport for the opportunity to play good rugby on a day following such appalling weather.