Devon One North and East League

THE early phases of this match were full of endeavour and good 15-man rugby by North Tawton but marred by too many penalties.

This meant they had nothing to show for their hard work and Buckfastleigh took the early points with a try from a hack through and a penalty kick. This gave them a lead of 8-0 after about 15 minutes.

North Tawton kept their positive play and a neat break by Rob North at fly half opened up the Buckfastleigh line only for the ball to be knocked down by a Buckfast hand as they reached the 10 metre line.

Player-coach Paul Turner took a good lineout ball which was passed to David Fewings. The scrum half took the narrow side and fed out to Tawton captain Keith Jones on the left wing, but he was forced into touch by the covering defence.

Finally, the positive play was rewarded with a quick tap penalty and the ball was fed to Mike Young, playing at outside centre. He stepped back inside and raced through for a well-taken try. The conversion was beautifully struck by David Fewings to take the score to 7-8 in favour of Buckfastleigh.

Shortly afterwards a stunning break by Young took him 70 metres through the struggling defence.

As they closed in he popped a pass to supporting player Rob McBain and then took the return pass to complete his second try. This was not converted, but shortly before the half-time whistle further North Tawton pressure forced a penalty from Buckfastleigh on their 22 metre line which Fewings slotted neatly. The half closed with the score at 15-8 to Tawton.

Another penalty early in the second half by Fewings extended the lead and the solid performance of the Tawton scrum forced the Buckfast pack off their ball several times. They responded with a good spell of play and a dangerous break was stopped by a brave tackle from Tawton full back Bill Sharp and the ball was cleared.

From Tawton's own 22 metre area it was a break by centre Mike Young which carved up the Buckfast line and a hand off took him through to score his hat trick try with another run of fully 70 metres. The conversion by Fewings took Tawton to 25 points.

North Tawton were now at full bore, forcing the play in the opposition 22 metre area. David Fewings broke round the stretched defence to score a try of his own, but the conversion missed, and the score stood at 30-8 to the home side.

The final quarter of the match saw Buckfast working their way back into the match and Tawton called on their determined tackling to keep them out.

From a penalty conceded out left close to the Tawton line the Buckfast fly half executed an excellent cross field punt to pick out his right wing.

He collected the ball and ran over unopposed for a consolation try; the conversion was too far out so the final score was 30-13 to North Tawton.

Failures to

convert kept Honiton's final score down

Honiton 28

North Tawton 3

As early penalty offence by North Tawton, caught offside, gave Honiton's Nick Gilbert the chance of the first three points. The home side kept up the early pressure with good recycling of the ball from contact and a break by their prop, Barry Lock outflanked Tawton's defence with a surprising turn of pace to run in a try.

This was not converted, leaving Honiton eight points up.

Tawton rallied well and in the set scrums had Honiton on the back foot, forcing a penalty about 30 metres out, which David Fewings converted for three points.

Honiton set up a good three-quarter move and only a good try-saving tackle by Tawton's fly-half, Rob North held them out.

From a good line-out take by Paul Turner Tawton's forwards set up a driving maul, making ground until Honiton were penalised again. This time the penalty kick was just wide.

Honiton were quickly back on the offensive and Tawton held up their progress with a scrambled maul about five metres from their line.

The Honiton scrum was pinged for feeding by their scrum half, a rare call these days, but Tawton failed to clear adequately.

Honiton regained possession and a neat short pass to centre Sampson, running a good angle, put him through for a try.

Once again the conversion was missed and the score moved on to 13-3 to the home side.

The strength of Honiton's loose play kept Tawton pegged back in their own half. A good tackle from Graham Sage, out on the left wing, prevented another possible try and a cool catch and kick out of defence by full back Bill Sharp gained them ground.

Apart from one chance from a break by number eight Steve King from a Tawton scrum driving forward, forcing their way to the Honiton 10 metre line, they had little impact in the latter part of the first half. It was Honiton who closed out the play with another strong run by Lock to break the defence for his second try, leaving the half time score at 18-3 to Honiton.

A great set scrum by North Tawton at the start of the second period forced Honiton off their own ball and a determined follow up took Tawton to the 22 metre line.

Then it was Honiton who turned the tables on Tawton with a good drive from their own pack.

Once again prop Lock broke away, to be finally chased down by Tawton's Mike Young, so preventing a possible hat trick of tries for the mobile prop.

There followed a spell when both sides made errors in their play, resulting in the repeated sound of the referee's whistle and a state of stalemate in the action.

From a Honiton line out on the Tawton 10 metre line, the ball was wrestled from the maul, but Tawton couldn't clear their lines. A free kick gave Honiton the chance to execute a good passing move to outflank the Tawton line as players got drawn in to defend and the right wing went over for a try out wide.

Again the conversion missed, but Honiton had stretched their lead to 23-3, with time running out for a response from North Tawton.

An attack down the right was held up by the Honiton defence, and their clearance took play back to the Tawton half. From a penalty conceded about five metres from the Tawton line, Honiton set up another passing move and again Tawton's cover defence was drawn in to leave room for the right wing to slip through for Honiton's final try, again not converted.

North Tawton finished well, with a rare visit to the Honiton 22 metre area and two line-out chances. From one of these a Turner take again set up a good drive for the Tawton pack and they kept Honiton pinned back.

Although their work rate could not be denied, balls lost in the set scrums meant they were not going to take the advantage of the territory, and Honiton absorbed the pressure to come out winners by 28-3.

If they had also converted the five tries the score line could have looked a lot worse for North Tawton.

Graham King