Devon 2 league

Dartmouth 12

North Tawton 47

WITHIN two minutes North Tawton had opened the scoring with a penalty kick by fly half Jamie Stevens and Dartmouth did not get out of their own half in the first ten minutes. During that time another well-struck penalty kick by Stevens had taken the score to 6-0 to the visitors.

North Tawton, fielding a pack showing several changes from their last match, faced a strong and well-drilled Dartmouth eight who dominated the set scrums, sending North Tawton backwards on several occasions.

Tawton absorbed this pressure, due to the efforts of their front row of Dave Gibbs, Adam Davis and James Henshaw, and Dartmouth were unable to capitalise on their advantage.

North Tawton extended their score following some good work by Jamie Stevens who found right wing Ben Sharp out wide and he ran in a good try; the conversion was missed.

Dartmouth came back with a series of plays which took them to North Tawton's five metre line. Their number eight John Dingle broke the defensive line and crashed through for a try, converted by Aaron Hunt, to take the score to 11-7 in favour of North Tawton.

Dartmouth could make no further impression despite repeated attempts. They were nearly caught out with a solo break from deep in his own half by Tawton centre Craig Dennis who was prevented from completing a try by a last ditch tackle.

Just before the break some good interplay by Tawton's backs set full back Will Lethbridge free on a counter-attack. His pace took him clear of the defenders to score a crucial try and give North Tawton a half-time lead of 16-7.

North Tawton started the second period with an early score by Craig Dennis, who intercepted a Dartmouth pass and sprinted in under the posts; the conversion went astray.

Shortly afterwards a neat individual break by Jamie Stevens cut through the Dartmouth defence to score a converted try and extend Tawton's lead to 28-7.

Once again Dartmouth rallied themselves and put the Tawton line under pressure through several set scrums. Finally they produced a well-controlled drive to score a push-over try, touched down by Dingle; the conversion bounced back off the post.

Apart from the set scrums Dartmouth seemed to have one plan — to bash through the defence with their three big hitters. When this failed they had no plan B and North Tawton countered with great loose play by Dave Gibbs, Mike Young, Simon Quick and James Henshaw, making the ball available for their three-quarters to run at the opposition.

When a defensive clearance by Dartmouth went into touch a quick throw-in by Stevens to Lethbridge set the full back loose again and he threaded his way through the defenders to score his second try. The conversion by Stevens took North Tawton into a 35-12 lead.

Their next score started with a lineout close to Dartmouth's try line which was won by Tawton. The ball was fed along the line to Luke Dennis, partnering his brother Craig in the centre, and he ran in the try. It was converted by Stevens.

North Tawton's last try came as Dartmouth were attacking Tawton's try line again. Number eight and captain on the day Simon Quick wrestled the ball clear and broke away from a maul. His neat offload to flanker Cameron Rickerby gave him the space to sprint the length of the pitch, outpacing the defenders and scoring the seventh try. The conversion was missed but North Tawton came out winners by 47-12 in an excellent 15-man display of rugby.