Tribute Devon two
Plymouth Argaum 5
North Tawton 71
THE match, after a delayed start, saw North Tawton rack up their biggest league win so far.
From a lineout Tawton regained possession and the ball was moved across to the opposite wing and Tom Davis crossed for a try, only to be called back for a foot in touch.
North Tawton were on the offensive and from the line out close in the ball was recycled to number eight Clint Brown who found a gap in the Argaum defence to break through for the try. A good conversion by Fewings took the score to 7-nil to the visitors.
North Tawton were camped in the Plymouth Argaum half, and good breaks by Tom Davis and Keith Jones threatened further scores. The defence held out until a pass off the back of a Tawton scrum again made it out to the left and this time winger Graham Sage made the touch down for 12-0. Plymouth Argaum made a determined comeback but crunching tackles by flanker Rob McBain, and good work by the pack in the loose play limited their progress.
At last Argaum broke through after a deceptive run by their full back and a hack through. The Tawton defence was caught out and Argaum went over for a try, which was not converted.
North Tawton responded when hooker Alfie May surged through for a well-taken try under the posts and the drop-kicked conversion took Tawton into a 19-5 lead at half time.
Soon after the start of the second half May was on hand again to score his second try. He collected a short pass from David Fewings coming from a tapped penalty close to the posts, and no-one was going to stop him from that distance. The drop-kicked conversion moved the score on to 26-5 to North Tawton.
Once again the Tawton pack had established a dominance which now allowed their three-quarters to cut loose. Fly half Rob North put in a long kick downfield, using the wind advantage well, and a fast follow-up by centre Johnny Grayling saw him chip ahead and ground the ball. The conversion by Fewings notched up 33 points.
An almost identical move between North and Grayling resulted in the ball being recycled to North who went in for a try. Soon after Clint Brown charged through to score his second try to make it 43-5 to North Tawton.
The half-century was reached in style with a well taken try from full back McKone. The move started with a quick throw-in by Tom Davis and a searing cross-field run by flanker Keith Jones. This set up a passing move and McKone hit the line at pace to take him in a well-angled run to the try line and set up an easy conversion. The Tawton threes were running riot and combined with the dominance of the pack three more tries were scored.
Centre Grayling made 30 metres and touched down for his second try. Then Fewings scored a classic scrum-half's try with a pick up and dart through the defence from a scrum 10 metres out.
A final flourish came from a pass along the line by centre Simon Quick which was scooped up by Mike Symons out on the wing and he cut back inside to go over for the last score. With the conversions added Tawton came out 71-5 winners. This takes them to second in the league on points difference to New Cross whom they meet at the beginning of December.