David Butt Memorial Trophy

Ilfracombe 36

North Tawton 10

IT was a long hike to Ilfracombe for North Tawton and after the four tries the ‘Combes scored in the second half, the trip home felt even longer.

The first half was tight, with Ilfracombe scoring one try and two penalties, with North Tawton only trailing by three points at the break.

Injuries played a big part in North Tawton losing their shape and struggling to maintain any cohesion in their set up. First to leave the pitch was captain James Miller with an ankle problem.

He was followed just ten minutes into the game by Ed Knight with a dislocated shoulder.

For the whole of the second half it was uncontested scrums, with the Tawts not able to find a fit prop and ended up with all sorts of players out of position.

As this was going on, Ilfracombe grew in confidence and seemed to score their points with ease, knocking the stuffing out of what was a resilient North Tawton defence.

The game started well for Tawton and it must be noted that it was the away team who took an early lead with a try from one of the new faces in the side, James Dickinson.

The kick was added by Dave Fewings and for a while, it was 7-0 to North Tawton. Ilfracombe got off the mark with a penalty and on the stroke of half time, went over for a well worked try, making the half time score 10-7.

A Dave Fewings penalty early in the second half levelled the score and gave the away supporters a glimmer of hope, but Ilfracombe had their tails up and won the second half with a burst of four tries to run away with the match 37-10.

At times this was a difficult match for North Tawton but the team kept pushing and playing for pride.

That passion added up to a red card for Tango who will now have to sit out a couple of games which will be a big miss.

During the end of game huddle coach Dan Bennett made the point that practice makes perfect and is hoping that mistakes can be ironed out during their sessions.