Salcombe 17

North Tawton 20

WITHIN the first five minutes a probing chip by Tawton's centre took them to a scrum 10 metres from Salcombe's try line, in front of the posts. The seven-man pack put on a powerful drive pushing Salcombe over the line and allowing number eight Steve King to ground the ball. The conversion was added by David Fewings to give North Tawton an excellent start.

Shortly afterwards Salcombe had a scrum 15 metres from their line but a hook against the head by Tawton's Alfie May turned the scrum into a driving maul. The Tawton pack dominated the loose play to force Salcombe back over their line and King again touched the ball down. The conversion went wide, but Tawton had a useful lead of 12 points.

Salcombe recovered their composure to a degree and a break by fly half Chris Drew put number eight Kevin Wreyford in the clear to run in a try; the conversion was pushed wide. The next score was again a result of Tawton's domination of the set scrums, with the front row of Pete Wonnacott, Tom Phillips and Alfie May anchoring the drive and pushing Salcombe back almost at will. They conceded a penalty which Fewings converted for 15-5 to the visitors.

A good spell of play by Salcombe put the Tawton defence under pressure but they held out well to prevent any score. A try-saving tackle by May, sprinting across the field to engulf a breaking Salcombe runner, spoke volumes for the determination of the Tawton side. Finally. the home side made the breakthrough as their flanker Stuart Winzer broke off the side of another retreating set scrum and stepped inside the defender for a touchdown. Drew converted to move his side up to 12 points at the half time break.

An early penalty to Salcombe in the second half took them into the Tawton 22 metre area, but they could not sustain the pressure and were harried off the ball by a vigorous defence. Then a break by Chris Drew down the right touchline found space where there shouldn't have been any as he fended off three tackles to score in the corner. Although the conversion was missed the try took Salcombe into a narrow lead for the first time.

North Tawton came close to another score when King broke away from a scrum down the right flank and passed to winger Mike Symons who sprinted down the touchline to take play into the Salcombe 22 metre area. From a pile up near the Salcombe try line Tawton were awarded a penalty. A quickly taken tap by Fewings and pass out found Symons in the right spot to crash over for a well-deserved try in the corner, too wide out for the conversion to be successful. Tawton edged back into a 20-17 lead which, as it transpired, was the winning scoreline.

The final stages turned into something out of the 'Somme' as heavy rain fell and the already slippery Twomeads pitch became virtually unplayable; it was now so dark the floodlights were turned on. These did not help much as both sides threw themselves into the closing phases and played themselves to a standstill, but it was the heroic 15 men from North Tawton who finally won the day. North Tawton and Salcombe are now tied in fifth position with 20 points each.

This week North Tawton are away to Tamar Saracens in Plymouth.