Devon two

North Tawton 43

Buckfastleigh 0

BUCKFASTLEIGH came into the match sitting one point above their hosts and looking to avenge a 15-3 home loss back in October, but found themselves behind within the first minute.

Winning a penalty from the kick off, North Tawton's Jack Phare took a quick tap allowing Jamie Stevens to exploit a three-on-two and send Simon Quick over out wide. Steven's conversion into the wind drifted wide.

The visitors had the opportunity to reduce the gap when North Tawton were penalised for not releasing in the tackle, but the resultant penalty from 35 metres was pulled wide.

Playing into the wind, North Tawton were forced to keep the ball in hand and were rewarded with two tries in two minutes.

Bill Sharp combined with his brother Ben to set up an attacking platform on the half way line. Quick hands from the home side saw the ball worked wide to centre Dan Dennis who cantered in for the home side's second try. Stevens added the conversion from under the posts and he was repeating the feat two minutes later when fullback Will Lethbridge broke the line on half way to race in for a quick-fire third.

Things went from bad to worse for the visitors when they were reduced to 14 men after their prop was caught handling in the ruck.

His ten minute stint soon became half an hour when the referee went down injured while running to a lineout, resulting in a 20 minute delay while a replacement was found.

If Buckfastleigh had hoped the break would take the momentum out of North Tawton's attack, they were mistaken.

The hosts came out firing and used their man advantage to score two more tries before the half ended.

A strong break by Stevens saw the powerful fly-half brush off three tackles before offloading to Lethbridge to score his second try. The conversion was good and the home side were 26-0 to the good after 25 minutes.

Not to be outshone, Dennis added his second try just before half time. A weaving run by Ben Sharp took North Tawton to within 10 metres of the visitors' try line and gave Dennis the room to step over for the home side's fifth. Stevens added the conversion and North Tawton went into half time 33-0 up.

The North Tawton scrum had been on top throughout the match with the front row of Alfie May, Hammy Kerswill and Pete Wonnacott causing the visitors all sorts of trouble at the set piece.

With the wind behind them and their forwards on top, North Tawton began to dominate both possession and territory. After sustained pressure in the Buckfastleigh 22, Quick stepped his way through the tiring defence and stretched out for his second try. Stevens added the extras.

The match threatened to boil over as it drew on, with several flashpoints requiring some stern words from the referee before a moment of individual brilliance from Craig Dennis completed the rout.

Receiving the ball 45 metres out, Dennis handed off two defenders before tearing off down the touchline to complete his hat-trick with an unconverted try out wide, rounding off a comprehensive victory for the home side.