Cornwall and Devon

LISKEARD AND LOOE 20

NORTH TAWTON 24

NORTH Tawton went into the game against the mid-table Liskeard and Looe coming off the back of two losses, looking for an away win to steady the ship and regain some momentum for their first season in this league.

A superb solo try by hooker Matt Baker inside the first two minutes of the match got the visitors off to a positive start. The early set back woke the home team up to the task ahead of them and it was not long before they scored the first of two quick tries, both from good work from the fly half, who was at the centre of all play coming from Liskeard and Look.

Going into the second quarter the home side led 12-7 on a windy afternoon in Liskeard.

The visitors like to play a fast running game but they found it really hard to build any phases without hearing the whistle for some infringement. North Tawton though were determined and on 32 minutes a strong run down the wing by Archie Taylor ended with a touchdown in the corner. A missed kick took the score 12-12 but North Tawton had their tails up.

With the game swinging back in the favour of the visitors it was not long before North Tawton scored their third try — a fine effort of good quick passing led to captain Gary Sizmur going under the posts; he converted his own try to make it 12-19 in favour of the Devon team.

A penalty conceded by the North Tawton made it 15-19 but just before half time another phase of good handling skills lead to the the visitors’ fourth and bonus point try through Bill Sharp. The conversion was missed kick and the teams went in at half time with North Tawton ahead.

At the start of the second half the home team tried to close the deficit and threw everything at North Tawton, pinning them back in their own 22 for long periods; scrum after scrum did not do any good for the nerves of anybody from across the Tamar and inevitably the defence broke as Liskeard narrowed the gap to four points.

North Tawton brought back Dan Quinn to bolster a creaking pack and with several good pushes they cleared their lines and kick the ball up field to relieve some heavy pressure before the clock ticked down and with a final score of 20-24 to the Devon men. 

This was a hard but well deserved win for North Tawton who never gave up either in defence or attack. Man of the match was North Tawton’s Archie Taylor.