ILFRACOMBE 7 - NORTH TAWTON 19

I AM sure there were a few sore heads in the North Tawton camp on Sunday morning either from the fact that the team left right after their hard-fought victory over Ilfracombe to get back to clubhouse for the team Christmas dinner or the fact that at least three players kept Clare, the appointed first aider (one of her many roles), busy with the sponge and tape with some nasty looking head wounds.

Stood on the cliff top overlooking the sea with a lazy wind blowing right through you, was not the place to be for the faint of heart, be you player or spectator it was a bitter windchill factor.

Ilfracombe kicked off down the slope (I am beginning to think that very few pitches in the league are on the level so to speak) against the wind both teams determined to put any memories of last week’s results out of their heads.

North Tawton struck first with a fine try, the first of two on the day by Matt Baker with the conversion by Matty Dennis 7-0 to the Tawts.

This seems to concentrate the minds of the opposition and Ilfracombe cranked it up a notch putting the Tawts defensive skills to the test, this made harder by short-term loss of James Millar with the first of the head injuries. It was nice to see his replacement come on first after his own injury a certain Ben Sharp.

With the pressure on Ilfracombe to score, it turned out to be their only points of the match with a try with added kick, score 7-7.

Some good tactical kicking from Simon Quick and Dave Fewings kept the Tawts out of too much trouble until the ref blew for half-time.

The next 40 minutes started in the same manner as the last, slowly but surly the Tawton team started to look favourites for the win, winning more break down ball and getting the better in the tackle areas, forwards and backs both getting stuck in to some hard work. Forget the cold wind this was good to watch.

North Tawton’s second try came via some good work from the forwards and touched down by Tom Cockerhill, a missed kick making the score 12-7 to the Tawts.

With a few injuries amounting the Tawts got all the subs on, this included the welcome return of Bill Sharp, also from a spell out with injury.

Ilfracombe were not giving up and they kept trying to get on the attack but some sterling defence by the Tawts kept them out at times, but Matt Baker picked up a loose ball, ran in from well 20m, his second of the day. With the kick added by Dave Fewings, we got the final score of 19-7 to North Tawton.

All-in-all a well-deserved away win from a very determined Tawts side who all played their part which made Matty Dennis’ man of the match award win all the more meaningful.

On Saturday, December 10, North Tawton will be at home against Exeter Sarries.

Chris Phare