Western Counties West

Tavistock 27

Wellington 19

TAVISTOCK continued with the good form to come away with a bonus point win that has lifted them out of the bottom two in the league.

An early probe of the home defence by the visitors was repulsed and a penalty enabled Tavistock find touch on halfway. From the lineout the ball was worked by Ewan Smith out to Charlie Furnival whose pace saw him tear up the wing from halfway to go in for the opening score. Fly half Rich Goldsby-West converted.

A long range penalty from Goldsby-West dropped short and Wellington ran the ball out and only a tremendous tackle by Dan Oner prevented the visitors from breaking down the wing. There came a period of concerted pressure from the visitors in the Tavistock 22, but superb tackling from Duncan Law, Lloyd James and rucking from the pack kept them out. Tavistock's second try came from a long clearance from Wellington. Dan Luffman fielded the ball and ran it back to halfway, where following a series of rucks the ball was moved up the wing allowing Mark Friend to collect and go in at the corner.

The visitors responded and camped themselves in the home 22 but again, great defensive tackling kept them out.

A quick tap penalty enabled Tavistock to move away from their own line and then a scrum on the home 22 resulted in the try of the match. Scrum half Smith fed Goldsby-West who's perfectly timed pass to centre Viliame Masirewa enabled him to accelerate through the visitors up to their 22 where a superb long pass to Luffman enabled him to outpace the defence and go in at the corner.

The second half started with both sides probing and a couple of penalties came to nothing. Tavistock then secured the try bonus point. A scrum in the visitors midfield enabled Kyle Browne to break and his perfectly timed pass to Ben Hadfield enabled him to outpace the covering defence to score. The visitors hit back and after series of scrums and drives went over for a try.

Following a fracas, both sides were reduced to fourteen. This seemed to galvanise Wellington and they went over for a second try following a drive from five metres out. The Somerset side now had the upper hand but from the restart a chase and tackle by Hadfield resulted in Wellington not releasing and conceding a penalty in front of the posts which Goldsby-West stroked over. This now left the visitors needing two scores which was beyond them and Tavistock closed out the game..