Devon one north and east league

New Cross 20

North Tawton 12

NORTH Tawton faced last season's league winners New Cross with a strong gusting wind blowing up the pitch, which made the kicking game somewhat of a lottery.

Two players made their first appearances for North Tawton this season, Andy Bourner and Kingsley Arthurs.

New Cross got a charge down from a slow clearance by North Tawton and their centre James Ward went in for an early score; the conversion was missed.

A lax piece of defending by New Cross just after the restart gave David Fewings his first try as the home side's full back tried to put a grubber kick past the advancing Tawton line. Fewings trapped the ball and picked up to go over for the score. This conversion was missed from out wide.

The scrums were evenly matched but Tawton were starting to get into the groove and forcing New Cross to give ground. Hard won territory was lost as New Cross used the strong following wind to peg Tawton back again.

A penalty to New Cross took them to a line out five metres from Tawton's try line, but their lineout was disrupted and in the maul it was Tawton's flanker Rob McBain who won the ball, giving his full back Bill Sharp the chance to kick the ball clear. It didn't go far enough and a good three-quarter move by New Cross got the ball out to their left wing. He scrambled over for a try wide out; the conversion went wide again.

Several more attacks by New Cross were disrupted by good defensive tackling by North Tawton and they reverted to the kicking game. The wind now began to favour the visitors.

Good close-quarter play in the mauls helped Tawton hold their ground in the New Cross half, but the defence got sucked in and gave home side the chance to break out. Their centre Ryan Wotton stepped back inside to evade the defenders and went over for his side's third try, which he converted to take them 17-5 ahead at half time.

Pressure early in the second period by New Cross called for some long clearance kicks by North Tawton but they failed to find touch and were run back at the defenders. North Tawton were penalised inside their 22 metre area giving Wotton the position to slot three points and take his side to 20-5 ahead.

The visitors forced a mistake by the New Cross scrum as they pushed the pack back and David Fewings was able to disrupt their ball. The ball was moved to Simon Quick who made a strong break passing inside to Fewings who stretched out to put the ball over the line to make it 20-12.

The final stages produced some moments of good rugby; powerful mauling by Steve King in loose play recovered the ball for North Tawton, and allowed them to clear their half, and a cool catch and clearance by Bill Sharp from full back pushed New Cross back.

In the final minutes North Tawton messed up a line out and a quick break by New Cross nearly gave them a final try but the chip through bounced too far and went dead.