NORTH TAWTON 31 - BRIXHAM SECONDS 17

FOLLOWING a well-needed weekend off, North Tawton RFC welcomed Brixham Seconds to Taw Meadows who, before kick off, sat one place above the Tawts in the league.

The win was a bonus point win for the home side.

There were a couple of late changes to the team due to injury and illness as Ben Sharp and James Miller unfortunately had to drop out.

This brought back Captain Jack Phare who still was not 100 per cent, and Billy Butler.

The team also welcomed back player/coach Simon Quick to the starting line up. The wet weather gave many who had come down to watch an expectation of a scrappy game.

The Tawts got off to a positive start, getting the ball out to the backs stretching the away sides defence.

An infringement by Brixham gave fly-half Liam Pyle a kick at goal which was successful, the first points on the board 3-0.

From the restart Brixham started to get into the game with their back row starting to make some good carries. A couple of missed tackles resulted in the first try of the game for the away side, the conversion missed and the score now 3-5.

Both sides tried to use their backs to get some running phases going but with the wet conditions, handling errors began to show.

Centre Matty Dennis and full back Will Lethbridge almost opened up the away side’s defence but the last pass wasn’t quite there yet.

A lapse in concentration by the Tawts defence allowed Brixham to break down the blind side to score their second try of the day, going more in the corner, but again the conversion was missed. The score now 3-10.

Following the try, the Tawts started to find their way back into the game, this time the final passes were breaking the Brixham defence.

A nice move started by Will Lethbridge was finished off by Matty Dennis to add to his try tally for the season.

The conversion was put over by Liam Pyle, the score all level at 10-10.

The try had put confidence back into the home side and shortly after they scored their second try of the game.

Following a good break down the wing, Tawts were five metres out and some big carries from the forwards was finished off by Simon Quick under the posts. Liam kicked the extras to take the score to 17-10 to the Tawts.

During much of the first half Brixham’s number 10 long kicks to the corner had caused some trouble for the back three and the away side tried pinning the Tawts in their own half to see the game out to half-time.

However, just before the half-time whistle another nice break by the North Tawton backs put them a few metres short of scoring their third try of the day.

The ball made its way out to winger James Bowden to add to his try scoring tally this season and a great conversion kick out wide by Liam made the half-time score 24-10.

The second half was a frustrating one for the home side. Although definitely controlling the game at this point, more missed passes and handling errors began to creep back in and the game began to become very stop/start.

The first 10 minutes saw the Tawts make some good individual breaks coming from Michael Young, Bill Sharp and Simon Quick but the Brixham defence or a knock on kept it pointless.

However, the home side’s scrum was very good all game. Against the run of play a great individual run by Brixham put them over the line for their third try of the game. The kick successful, the score now 24-17.

Following the try, North Tawton remained in control and were playing most of the rugby in Brixham’s half. On several occasions the home side found themselves only metres away from getting the bonus point try and on two occasions the Brixham defence held the ball up over the try line.

North Tawton finally got their bonus point try after several phases of carries from the forward pack, creating a space for Liam Pyle to score the try which he converted. The final score 31-17.

A good win for the home side which is now level on points with Brixham in the league but go above them due to points scored/conceded.

Despite the wet weather the backs had some good attacking runs and the forwards were very hardworking.

The scrums were great and there were definitely some more points out there to be scored. All-in-all a great day for the boys.

Man of the match was awarded to Liam Pyle. Next North Tawton travel to Torquay for the next league fixture.

Jabby Fewings