Devon Junior plate final

North Tawton 13

Torrington 10

THE celebrations, no doubt, went well into the night for a victorious North Tawton squad of players and coaches alike after their well deserved and hard fought win over a strong Torrington side in the Devon plate final.

The game was  played on the same day as a Devon triple header at the superbly presented Taw Meadow ground — with Exeter Saracens  beating Old Technicians 12-10 in the shield match and Dartmouth beating Totnes 29-11 in the cup as well.

The day was a great credit to those at North Tawton RFC.

In front of a large crowd this was the third time the Tawton team had made the final but as yet not won and nobody at Tawton underestimated a big Torrington team.

Right from the first whistle it was clear the home side were up for it, getting to the break down the ball quickly, not giving Torrington time to reset and forcing mistakes from a side that finished second in the league.

A penalty chance was missed by Tawton’s Dave Fewings but this was soon forgotten when he slotted over his second attempt to give Tawton a 3-0 lead. Fewings then took a knock in a tackle which saw Alex Dennis taking the next kick to make it 6-0 to the home side.

However, North Tawton were not bossing the game at this stage. Torrington are a good side and did not roll over but some good play from the home team, with some slick passing skills moving the ball around, kept the visitors busy. However their perserverence was rewarded with a well taken try by hooker Matt Baker; the kick added by Dave Fewings made the half-time score 13-0 to North Tawton.

The second half proved to be anything but easy for the home side as Torrington threw everything at them. The visitors’ first try came after a missed kick and this did nothing to calm Tawton nerves.

Despite some big tackles going in from North Tawton, Torrington’s confidence grew but the home players fought for every ball and every yard on the pitch.

With the clock ticking down Torrington scored a second try but missed the conversion right in front of the posts to reduce the deficit to 13-10. 

North Tawton, with five minutes to go, held their discipline and at the final whistle they could start to enjoy a much welcome and throughly deserved victory.