Newquay Tournament
Tavistock U15’s and U18’s Newquay 7’s report
Tavistock took both sides down to Newquay on Sunday, to enjoy huge
success at both age groups in the annual Newquay 7’s. The tournament
was run as a round robin tournament, with bonus points for 4 tries or
more scored and a losing bonus point being introduced.
The U15’s went as favourites, knowing they had beat all the competing
teams this season. Despite missing some key players; they did not
disappoint. The first game of the tournament saw Tavistock play a much
improved Taunton side. Tavistock started slowly still in 15 aside mode
and relied on the pace of Dawe to put them 5 – 0 up from no where. This
was soon amended however when Tavistock realised the space they had and
started to move the ball around, leading to tries for Brown and a brace
from Huntley. Final score 20 – 5. Player of the match was Cowie, for
three brilliant try saving tackles, two of which led to brilliant
length of the pitch tries. The second game was seen by many as an early
decider as Tavistock played the very strong Exeter side. After
conceding an early try, Tavistock hit back with a hat-trick from
skipper Huntley. Stacey and Neave coming off the bench were notable in
defence, often being relied upon to make one on one tackles. The game
was the most exciting of the day as injury time in the second half
lasted 3 minutes with the ball travelling from end to end and one score
in it, only for McCall to end things with a crunching tackle. Final
score 17-12. The third game saw Tavistock brush past Plymouth with a
27-0 thrashing, Rodgers picking up the honours for her “terrier” like
poaching around the park. Tries coming from the ever present Huntley,
Dawe, Cowie and a brace from Brown. The final game was played against
hosts Newquay and again Tavistock saw themselves 5 -0 down after
seconds, but once again bounced back to a comfortable 20-5 win with
Huntley, Brown and Neave being in the points. Upcott was as always
strong in defence and very good in the turnover and Stacey continued to
improve throughout the tournament. This meant Tavistock won the
tournament with a positive points difference of 62 and 19 out of a
possible 20 league points.
The U18’s tournament was played with 4 teams, due to a late drop out of
a couple teams. Again some of Tavistock’s most valuable players were
absent but the strength in depth was ever present throughout the day.
The first game was a thriller as Tavi went 17-7 down in the first half
and Abel being the only points scorer. The second half however with the
addition of Neave, McCall and Walke was a different story. Tavistock
hit straight back with a fine finish by Walke down the wing. It was
here that Tavistock realised the Taunton side were tiring and were most
useful when a 15aside game was being played. So with some fine hands by
Kirby and O’Boyle spreading the ball wide it wasn’t long before Neave,
Notman and Walke crossed for her 2nd. Final score 27-22. Player of the
match was Walke. The second game like the 15’s tournament proved to be
the decider against the strong Sarries side. A low scoring affair, saw
Tavistock defend for the entire first half, going into the break only
5-0 down. Notable were Scorer and McCall with a monstrous tackle count
between them. The second half didn’t go Tavi’s way as Exeter boosted
their lead to 10 -0. It was only then that Tavistock had possession and
looked very deadly in attack, but it was too little too late when Abel
bundled over to make the score 10-7 at the final whistle. Player of the
match was McCall for her master class in 7 aside rugby, in both Defence
and attack. The final game saw Tavistock brush past Albion in a high
scoring 34-15 win. With many of the tries being created out of nothing,
it was end to end action, among the scorers were Neave, McCall and
Notman. This led to a 2nd place finish with the only difference being 3
points in the Saracens game.
Next week Tavistock are on tour, to compete in the national 10aside
competition looking to build on their local success this weekend.