NORTH TAWTON RFC 20-17 NEW CROSS

NORTH Tawton travelled to Kingsteignton, the home of New Cross RFC, and picked up a well-deserved away win that for most of the game looked very unlikely as the vast majority of the game in the first half was played inside the Tawton 22 line.

The home team started the match pushing the Tawton defence back towards their own goal line, and it was taking a lot of effort and a fair bit of scrambling about very near the try line to keep them out. 

Pressure told in the end, and New Cross went over for two tries with about 20 minutes gone to give them a 10-0 lead, both conversions missed, which would prove costly.

So the scene was set: North Tawton were 10-0 down, the home team had their tails up and were still putting Tawton under a lot of pressure, chucking the ball around with bags of confidence.

Big mistake - step, or should I say gallop, forward the fastest hooker in town, James Miller, who gave us a replay of last week’s try.

From an intercept, he got the ball in hand and went under the posts for another great try, this one even better than the last effort, as he had to run it in from 45 metres, not 40 metres like last week, with the conversion added.

That takes us to 10-7 at half time and as I heard, Captain Goss was telling his side the Tawts are still in this match. 

We started the second half very much like the first, and it was not long before the home team extended their lead, giving them a welcome 10-point lead, 17-7.

At this point, it did look a bit like the match was slipping away from North Tawton.

They had been hanging on by their fingertips to a side that know how to win at home. But, and it’s a big but, the sheer determination of a North Tawton side that doesn’t know when it’s beat came alive.

The Tawts started getting more possession of the ball and they got their running game going, putting pressure on New Cross.

They got their reward with a try from Luke Austin, kick added by Liam Pyle who never missed a kick all afternoon, giving us a 17-14 scoreline.

New Cross started to get a bit nervous: how would they shake off these men in black and gold? They just wouldn’t lie down. 

Spending more welcome time in the New Cross red zone or very near it, the Tawts forced a penalty, kicked by Liam Pyle, taking us to 17-17. 

The clock was ticking down and again under pressure North Tawton got their second penalty in the space of minutes, again kicked by Liam Pyle, and for the first time in the match North Tawton took the lead 17-20. 

From the restart, there were a few nervous moments with the home team having one last go at the Tawts’ try line, but it was North Tawton who celebrated at the final whistle.

They left New Cross to wonder how they managed to lose a game they looked to be in control of.

Chris Phare