Devon two

Tamar Saracens 16

North Tawton 0

THIS fixture saw first place North Tawton travel to second place Tamar Saracens in a top of the table clash. With all weather conditions bar sunshine present and a churned up pitch; the quality of the game was difficult for both sides.

It was North Tawton who were on the receiving end as the Plymouth outfit took bragging rights in what was in the end a relatively comfortable redemption of the earlier season result at Taw Meadow. The first half saw a scrappy affair with Tamar boosting a healthy possession percentage despite some sturdy defence early on from the Mid Devonians.

As the 10 minute mark approached, Tamar converted these statistics with a three pointer in front of the sticks as Matt Dennis knocked on a Saracens pass and was handed an early 10 minute rest.

Tamar doubled their lead shortly after with another penalty shot as Tawton were caught out for an offside in midfield. At half time the score was 6-0 to the visitors.

The second half started in a manner that would confuse any late arriving spectator as North Tawton opted for a kit change to ease the confusion of brown shirts playing against brown shirts.

This, however, was perhaps a bad omen as penalties were exchanged not between teams but between Tawton players in a second half riddled with ill discipline and the referee's whistle.

Tamar did maintain their strong game plan of close quarter rugby and were rewarded with an early try as a 5 metre lineout was driven over the whitewash by a 13 man strong Plymouthian maul.

Many first half injuries did not help the North Tawton revival as they never really got going with ball in hand but instead rushed proceedings. ending up in turnover ball for the hosts.

A second Tamar try sealed the game for the home side in similar fashion to the first bringing the final score to 16-0 to Tamar.

This result still sees North Tawton lead the way in Devon two but the deficit has been reduced to two points – creating an interesting finish to the season for both sides to fight it out for champion rights.