Tavistock U14s 5

Exmouth U14s 0

TAVISTOCK stepped up to the mark Sunday and put in their best performance of the season so far against Exmouth Cockles.

The game was a fierce battle for possession with both sides defending with passion and attacking with some good hands. The Tavistock handling and hunger for the ball was much improved. Its pack pressured Exmouth at every breakdown and did not let them settle into any kind of routine.  New Tavistock hooker Allex Cottam  settled in nicely with some great steals against the head at the scrum and accurate lineout throwing in the windy conditions. Locks Dylan Owen, James Roiseter  and Harry Law rucked  as if their lives depended on it, coupled with fierce tackling of the big Exmouth ball carriers by Jaxom Cann and Charlie Meakin.

Eventually Tavistock’s pressure created a turnover ball after 12 minutes, which after a few swift passes, found prop Charlie Meakin out wide putting Sam Wilton away on the wing; he shrugged off a tackle and dotted down for the only try of the game.

Sam Saunders was almost rewarded for his efforts by a 22 metre interception and a sprint off up the pitch , only to be caught a few yards out and Exmouth managed to clear their  lines.

Both teams probed and  prodded the opposition defence but Tavistock made good use of the touchline with Edward Tait , Sam Saunders and Noah McDermott creating a solid wall of tackles to keep Exmouth away from the try line. Sam Wilton earned Tavistock man of the match for his tireless tackling, his strength going forward and supplying the winning try. This was another gritty determined effort from the Tavistock youngsters, showing their mettle and character.

South Molton U11s 0

Okehampton U11s 65

OKEHAMPTON found a greatly improved opposition from their last visit. Captained by Shortie the match started swiftly with a great run from Adam for his first try. Alex at scrum half showed some good moves while there was plenty of passing from all the players throughout the game. Saul made some good breaks from the pack, and was always quick to accelerate.

South Molton held a strong defence in the first period as the majority of play was in their half. Oke finally got through with a try for Lachs followed by another which was held up but finally a maul allowed Callum to make room for his try.

The second quarter saw new player Craddock make his mark with some great runs, one of which he passed to Finn for a try — a lot of hard work was seen from both of them.

Jacob had good hands and was quick to pick from rucks and made a great offload to Saul, who touched down as he scored three in this quarter.

A ruck near the tryline saw a South Molton player quickly pick up from a ruck and kick up the pitch to keep the Oke lads on their toes.

Josh for the visitors stood his ground with plenty of strong tackles.

The last half saw the game carry on quite slowly as the ground became heavy going and many of the players were tiring. There was one superb tackle from Shortie.Okehampton tries in this final phase came from Lachs, Ed, Callum, Saul, Adam and Will.

Newton Abbot U11s 55

Tavistock U11s 35

IN damp and muddy conditions Tavistock U11s turned out for a tough match against a strong Newton Abbot side. A four quarter game provided an opportunity for the boys to demonstrate their ever improving skills.

The first quarter was a tightly fought game with both teams defending well. Finally the home team got off the mark with the first try, but Tavistock’s reply was swift. A long kick up the field from Luke was picked up by Matthew and a quick pass to Sam took him over the line for the first of his two tries.

The second quarter proved difficult for Tavistock with the home team showing some exemplary passing and dominance in winning the ball in the scrum. Four more tries for Newton Abbot followed, with Tavistock managing one from Eddie. Despite a smaller squad to draw upon, Tavistock kept up their fierce tackling especially from Sam, Callum, Eddie and James.  

In the third quarter Eddie was in fine form with some great runs breaking through the home team’s defences, resulting in two more tries to complete his hat trick.  Ben broke free from his defensive position for a superb try and Sam’s second try  gave Tavistock another boost of encouragement. 

In the final quarter, Newton Abbot’s fresh legs were too much for a tiring Tavistock team and the home team pulled away but in the dying minutes Tavistock showed just what they are able to do with an excellent clearance from Christopher, and a great pass from Seb to Luke, who sprinted down the wing for a final try for Tavistock just before the final whistle.

Despite the final score  falling in the home team’s favour Tavistock showed that they are maturing into a skilled and determined side.

South Molton U9s 11 tries

Okehampton U9s 9 tries

OKEHAMPTON travelled to South Molton with a squad of eleven players and an enthusiastic crowd of followers, who were not disappointed with the performance of the team. There was a great improvement all round from the previous week with tackles being put in by all and good passing.

Oke opened the scoring with a couple of quick passes near their own line which ended up in Roman’s hands; with a quick side step he ran down the line to score in the corner. Phoebe made some good lines of running to score four tries and set up two more. Conlead and Joe made some great yards up the middle and were unlucky not to score. Hector scored a couple of tries with good strong running down the wing while Lucy was everywhere, tackling anything that moved and pouncing on any loose balls.

Ollie had a great game scoring one try and putting in some good tackles. James, Seb, Amy and Vinny all worked well in attack and defence with Noah doing well at scrum-half passing the ball out of the tackle.

The hard work of the coaches Tom and Paul is paying off with the team improving all the time.