Tiverton U16s 14

TAVISTOCK U16s provided spectators with their most mature and assured performance of the season.

Playing only their second game in the highest tier of the Fisherman's Cup competition the home side's forwards dominated possession from the opening moments of this game.

Will Gardner showed Tavistock's intent and ran back Tiverton's kick off to deep inside their opponents' half; this led to a sustained period of pressure with some impressive driving play and ball retention from Ben Luke, Harry Jeans and Steve Kirby. Tiverton defended strongly but Tavistock kept going and neat handling created space for captain Theo Cousins to burst through a gap and drive over for the opening score. Tavistock continued to look to go forward but running from deep into the wind got them into to trouble.

Tiverton's hard running centre then replied for the visitors with a try. Tavistock stuck to their task, however, and forwards Steve Kirby, Harry Jeans, Theo Cousins and Billy Rowe all won superb turnovers. Hooker George Murrain weighed in with two strikes against the head in the scrum and pacey second row Cameron McKie was unlucky not to complete a length of the pitch to score after charging through from within his own 22.

Theo Cousins dominated the lineout and this was illustrated when he stole a lineout ball from a Tiverton throw on the five metre line. The resulting maul saw Tavistock's forwards drive to the line, backs Chris Watts and Ben Milligan added their weight to help Will Gardner score in the right hand corner. Milligan then added the extra two points. Tavistock's next score came from Ethan Lamerton before Tavistock gifted Tiverton a second score after throwing an interception.

Playing with the wind and the slope in the second half fly half Chris Watts and centre Ben Milligan kept the away side pinned in their own half with some clever kicking. Replacement Richard Cann made an immediate impact and with Dan Willis at scrum half Tavistock won a penalty and following a quick tap Ben Luke drove over.

When Tiverton did break Bernie Sadler defended stoutly at fullback and winger Will Trembath fielded some difficult kicks. Second row Cameron McKie claimed Tavistock's fifth try after another powerful run.

To their credit Tiverton kept battling until the end and in the last 15 minutes looked to get some phases of play of their own together. Tough tackling from Tavistock's Theo Cousins, Billy Rowe and Will Gardner kept them on the back foot. The game ended with another well constructed rolling maul from a lineout for Will Gardner to go over for the final score.

Tavistock U14s 5

Ivybridge U14s 31

THE score did not truly reflect how close these sides were and this was shown with the score still 0-0 after 20 minutes of hard play. It was Ivybridge which broke through to gain the first try but up to that point Tavistock had been camped in the Ivybridge half with Jon Lord, Archie Allen and Toby Teague all putting in big tackles and great carries on the ball. The balance just tipped towards Ivybridge with a second try just before half time taking the score to 12-0.

The second half saw a quick Ivybridge back line break through to score a third try. However, after Tavistock's Pete Bull had secured the ball with the help of Olly Noy Scott, it came through to Jude White, supported by Connor Baker, who angled his runs perfectly to score Tavistock's only try.

Ivybridge immediately produced a great bit of play from their backs to score under the posts and stamp out the fight back from Tavistock. Credit goes to Tavistock for continuing to keep their heads up and keep going but Ivybridge had the upper hand and scored again just before the final whistle. The standard of rugby was superb from both teams and it gives Tavistock much food for thought to improve as they endeavour to create more chances going forward.

Tavistock U13s 40

Exeter Chiefs U13s 17

TAVISTOCK opened the scoring 37 seconds from kick off after James Roissetter caught the ball and raced upfield and two smart offloads later Harry Richardson used his pace to score under the posts. This galvanised the Chiefs into action and the rest of the half was a ferocious game of ruck and counter ruck with Chiefs showing Tavistock how to ruck. Both sides suffered from handling errors caused by opposition pressure but Chiefs equalised after pinning Tavistock down for  five minutes.

Tavistock retook the lead after a superb offload round the back of a tackle from player of the match Dan Pett to put Henry Varndell-Dawes through. Chiefs scored again almost directly from the restart after their full back gathered a clearing kick and a few missed tackles, allowing him over the line. At half-time the score was a close 14-12.

In the second half Tavistock, with the wind behind them, started to use play to their strengths. Harry Richardson scored from a 10 metre scrum; this was quickly followed by another scrum based try where the Tavistock pack pushed Chiefs off their put in, before feeding the ball through the backs for Henry Varndell to touch down.

Tavistock turned the game around by pinning Chiefs back in their 22 and the powerhouse prop Jaxom Cann was rewarded with a try from a 5m penalty. Never giving Tavistock an easy ride, Chiefs scored again out wide after some patient phase play. Henry Varndell-Dawes completed his hat trick with a chip and chase for the last play of the game. Harry Edwards controlled the Tavistock game from fly half and converted five out of six.

Okehampton U11s 15

Tavistock U11s 45

ON a muddy Tavistock on a slope this game was always going to be a game of two halves. From the start Okehampton put up a good defensive line with such pressure, force and skill in the rucks that the visitors gained control most of the time thanks to Seth, Ethan and Elliot but a strongly built Tavistock side were too solid for Oke's smaller players and the home side soon turned it over again. Luke, Alex and Aedan communicated well and Oke realised they had speed on their side and picked up the pace.

Holly, Matt and Cameron for Oke played well and a good pass down the line from Elliot, Ethan and Matt set Jacob up nicely to run down the line and score Oke's first try. Another great pass from Isaac to Ethan saw the latter head down, charging forward to score their second and the team's confidence grew.

The visitors dug deep and played well. Sam, Freddie, Aedan, Isaac, Joe, Ethan, Holly, Cameron and Seth were instrumental in some smooth game play showing both skill and team awareness. The visitors were rewarded when Isaac charged towards the line and scored. Even though Tavistock were at times unstoppable Oke never gave up to the final whistle.

Crediton U10s 0

Okehampton U10s 45

THE game started quickly with an Okehampton maul mainly powered by Callum and Lachs towards the Crediton tryline swiftly finished with a try for Lachs. This followed on with a frenzie at the tryline which allowed Toby through to score a try.

Callum was constantly strong in his attack, the Oke boys keeping the pressure on throughout and a snatched ball from Lachs led to his second of three tries. Shea was constantly at the heels of whoever had the ball while Adam was driving the attack back and was rewarded when he weaved through to score his one try.

In the second half Ed worked well in the rucks for Oke while captain Will was constantly tackling well. Ryan showed that he could tackle and he helped set Saul up to pick up the ball to blast through for the third of his four tries.

Oke's pressure never wavered and Ben threw himself into the game with some great charging into touch. Saul and Will read each others tactics well and some good passing was seen between them. Shortie showed some quick work as scrum-half and Alex did some good work in the mauls.

South Molton U10s 0

Okehampton U10s 20

WILL and Lachs were mauling well for Okehampton and Adam kept pressure on driving the opposition into touch.

A ruck saw the ball come out to Saul to score his try. Saul then went on to pass to Will for a well executed dive over the line for his try. Callum passed to Adam for a long run downhill for his try.

A perfect bounce was caught by Will who kept driving at the South Molton players who were struggling to stop him. The Oke boys kept chipping away until Will ran through to score. Josh was constantly in the right place at the right time to keep the ball moving.

The second half saw no tries but Ben was always pushing his way in and making a general nuisance of himself while Dan was still keeping the pressure on. Good pressure was also seen from Shortie. Dan determinedly ran almost the length of the pitch, uphill, dragging the opposition with him, but just short of the tryline he was pushed into touch. Ed again kept going whilst South Molton were trying to drag him down, but just couldn't quite make the tryline.