Tiverton 2nd XI 23 North Tawton 1st XV 8
AFTER a bruising encounter away at Sidmouth 2nd XV last week in the pouring rain, it was another trip on the road this week for the new-look North Tawton team to Tiverton, thankfully in the sunshine.
The game started with the young-looking Tiverton side applying all of the pressure with some good passing and line speed and it was not long before they went in front with a penalty.
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Slowly but shortly, aided by a good defence, the North Tawton team started to play their way into the game. Courtesy of some good scrummaging with strong rucks and mauls, they went over the Tiverton try line with a try by Pete Gillard- a missed conversion left the score at 3-5.
It was quite a balanced fixture at this point with one team using power and the other trying to go around the sides at every chance they got. Some good kicking from hand into the corners by Ryan Goss gave the Tawts some good opportunities to add to their points tally but with a referee who had taken a dislike to the North Tawton line out, many of these chances were squandered.
A penalty in front of the Tiverton posts gave Tawton a 3-8 lead and it looked for a short while that the Tawts were getting the upper hand, but alas a penalty followed by a well-worked try gave the home team an 11-8 lead at half time.
The second half started in much the same vein with North Tawton busting a gut not to let the home team get any further away. It was only a boot on the touchline that stopped North Tawton getting what would have been a well-worked try of their own. The line out was still proving to be a problem for Tawton and so the home team ran in another try to make it 16-8.
With the clock ticking down and a few tired bodies, the younger-looking side ran into the corner to score what was in truth, the killer blow, with a good conversion rolling the final score over to 23-8.
Tiverton are a good team and will take some beating in this league- it’s an old saying maybe but in truth, the scoreline does not reflect the game as North Tawton deserved more for their efforts.
The main difference was Tiverton played with a settled side- a luxury that in the main, North Tawton can only dream of and you can't help feeling that if they can get some continuity in the playing squad, they could be a team to reckon with.