NORTH TAWTON 19 NEW CROSS 0
A DIFFERENT week and a different game and a better all-round performance from North Tawton brought a welcome league win for the Tawts.
All credit must go to New Cross who didn’t come up just to make up the numbers.
With a much stronger pack they gave Tawton a really hard time at scrum time.
At least for the first 40 minutes Tawton struggled to get any clean ball to work and with both sides defending well the half-time score was 0-0.
I have no idea what was said at the half-time talk but the North Tawton players came out of the blocks flying and really took the game to New Cross and early into the second half scored a well-worked try with Matt Dennis going over the whitewash and Alex Dennis adding the conversion to make it 7-0 to Tawts.
You got the feeling the Tawton team had their heads-up and wanted to play, and they did.
Another Dennis try, this time by Luke, a missed kick making the score 12-0.
A change of personnel for New Cross in the front row didn’t seem to do them any favours and the Tawton pack started to get some success making life a little easier for the scrum-half to get the ball away feeding the willing backs a better ball enabling them to run on to the pass.
This caused a tiring New Cross team more problems.
Enter Will Lethbridge who, given a quick ball with space, takes some catching trademark try under the posts.
Extras by Alex Dennis made the score 19-0 to North Tawton.
The game had gone away from New Cross but they kept on until the final whistle, keeping Tawton honest.
All-in-all it was a good display from both well-matched sides, played in good spirits.
The no-nonsense ref added to the games enjoyment. Man of the match was Ryan Goss, who put in another good shift for the team.
Before the game started a minutes’ silence was observed for a stalwart of the very heart of North Tawton Rugby Club, Peter Hoggins, who passed away in the week.
We will all miss Peter’s input. His photos were out of the top drawer and captured the very essence of the game.
Chris Phare