Devon one

North Tawton 6

South Molton 35

NORTH Tawton fielded a depleted team with key players in the front five missing. However the home pack gave a good account in the early stages and strong play in the loose drew a penalty against South Molton, which was converted.

South Molton responded but were unable to breach the Tawton defence and the ball was cleared. A yellow card for a visiting player for a maul infringement led to another penalty converted for the home side. A third penalty chance for North Tawton was missed and as South Molton turned up the pressure they were awarded a penalty of their own when a Tawton player held on in the tackle; Jamie Stoneman converted to open their scoring.

A well place grubber by Tawton's scrumhalf Jack Phare took his side to the South Molton five metre line but they defended their line well and were able to clear.

A good spell of driving play by South Molton's pack, dominating the lighter Tawton unit in the loose, took them close to Tawton's line and, although they held out initially, a penalty was conceded to give Stoneman the chance to slot another three points and draw the scores at 6-6 at the interval.

In the second half Tawton's commitment could not be faulted but South Molton started to exploit their strength in the set pieces. A turn over ball from a scrum saw them feed the ball across the field to left wing Mike Leigh who went over for a try, converted by Stoneman. The same player slotted a penalty soon after to extend South Molton's lead to 16-6.

From a lineout 10 metres from Tawton's line the ball bounced loose and South Molton's front row Phil Holmes snapped it up and went over in the corner. As South Molton opened up their running game Tawton's defence was stretched but never gave up. Tremendous tackling by their loose forwards Rob McBain and Mike Young epitomised their spirit. It was not enough however to prevent Molton scoring two more converted tries, and was not helped by Tawton having a player sin-binned late in the match. The final score to South Molton did not reflect the effort the Tawton boys put in, notably the impressive work rate of Man of the Match Rob McBain.