North Tawton 3 - Withycombe 27

Rugby Cornwall/Devon Tribute League

ON a bitterly cold afternoon where there was no escape from the wind, or from North Tawton’s point of view, the referee’s whistle, the Tawts came up against a good Withycombe side who at the very least understood the man with the whistle was in charge, like it or lump it.

The first 10 minutes or so led to the home team conceding penalty after penalty that in itself lead to Withycombe taking an early lead with their first try of the game, 0-7.

A rare decision in the Tawts favour in the shape of a penalty kicked by scrum half Jack Phare got hosts North Tawton, as it turned out, the only points of the match.

Try as they might North Tawton couldn’t get any phases together before the referee spotted an infringement and called play to a halt.

This was clearly apparent at the breakdown, the ref making it very clear to one of the Tawts senior players that he wasn’t going to tolerate any questioning of his decisions.

With the visitors seeming to have the upper hand at scrum time it’s also very hard for the Tawton scrum half to get any clean ball to play off.

A penalty to Withycombe took us to the break, 3-10 to the away team.

It’s only a try difference on the score board but in real terms we had two teams, one struggling to make any headway, almost frightened to make any meaningful attempt to get their hands on the ball and the other side who were playing some good rugby, good kicking from hand and like the colour of their shirts were getting the rub of the green where any blowing of the whistle was concerned.

Yet another penalty was awarded, taking Withycombe two scores away, 3-13.

For the home supporters it was starting to become painful as the game ground on to what surely was becoming increasingly inevitable, Withycombe growing in well deserved confidence, building their score, and applying pressure in the North Tawton red zone.

Withycombe had three tries which were well-worked but aided by some wayward passing from the Tawts got us to a final score of 3-27.

No doubt on the day the side that learnt how the referee wanted the game played was Withycombe and they travelled home with a good win under their belt and no doubt a wry smile.

Chris Phare