Devon one North and East league

North Tawton 30

Buckfastleigh 13

THE early phases 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 15 minutes.

North Tawton kept their play positive 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 visitor's hand as they reached the ten 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. The positive play was rewarded with a quick tap penalty and the ball was fed to outside centre Mike Young, who stepped back inside and raced through for a well-taken try. The conversion was well 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. Shortly before the half-time whistle further North Tawton pressure forced a penalty from Buckfastleigh on their 22 metre line which Fewings slotted neatly to make it 15-8 at the break.

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. A dangerous break by the visitors was stopped by a brave tackle from Tawton full back Bill Sharp.

From Tawton's own 22 metre area it was a break by centre Mike Young that 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 scored a try of his own, but the conversion missed, and the score stood at 30-8 to the home side.

The final quarter 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 an unconverted try.