Four tries not enough for Wellington

9:30am Wednesday 26th September 2007

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Cornwall and Devon League: Tavistock 36, Wellington 26.

WELLINGTON ran in four tries but it was not enough to secure victory away to Tavistock last Saturday.

Tavistock, who were one of the stronger teams in the division last season, started vigorously and appeared to have lost none of their quality, hitting the visitors with a five-pointer after only five minutes when flanker Matt Cole finished off from a ruck.

The Red and Blacks got a better grip of their play and took the lead through a Henry Roffe-Silvester try. The flanker chased down a Ryan Garland chip in the Tavy 22 and collected the loose ball and managed to just stretch out to reach the line. Garland converted.

That was short-lived as Tavistock regained the lead in controversial circumstances as the referee allowed advantage even though there was a clear knock on by the home side after the penalty had been indicated against Wellington. He decided to let play continue and home number eight Jake Phillips went over for the score with scrum half Alex Moy converting.

Despite a bright start to the second period, Wellington fell further behind when centre Duncan Law just managed to make the line from a line out taken after a such penalty. Moy added the two extra points.

After controversially being denied a try, Wellington fell further behind when Law went over after being released from a rolling maul. The kick was missed.

The visitors were not finished however, and they applied pressure to win a penalty which was put into the corner by Jones who had replaced Garland at fly half. He then threw a long accurate pass out to wing Micky Norman who cut inside to go over.

The home side cancelled out that score through a try from flanker Cole this time converted by fly half Josh Sutton.

Minutes later the lead was again reduced as Jones saw a yawning gap open up in front of him and scored under the posts. He comfortably converted and the lead was reduced to 12 points. The gap remained that way at the final whistle although both sides managed a final try apiece through the Tavistock centre Doug Lloyd and Wellington scrumhalf Tim Jenkinson.

While they were disappointed not to have won, Wellington were encouraged with the fact that when they got in their opponents faces they were able to score four tries away from home which on another day would be more than enough to gain victory.

Somerset 2 (S): Wellington 2nd XV 8, Hornets 2nds 30 WELLINGTON started slowly and poor tackling allowed the visitors the opening try which was converted.

Wellington then arose from their slumber and were rewarded with a try from winger Ben Adams to make it 7-5. A Phil John penalty gave Wellington a slender 9-8 lead at half time.

A drop goal saw Hornets regain the lead and they followed it with a try.

The majority of a bad-tempered second period was played in Wellington's half and Hornets were rewarded with three tries, a conversion.

Wellington, however, held their heads up and in two periods of territorial advantage, almost reduced the deficit with runs from Waygood and Lee Atkinson. Gareth Hodgson was impressive in the loose and both Matt John, at fly half and brother Phil, at full-back kicked well in clearing the line and in attacking situations. Hooker Waygood also impressed and Richard Porter, returning after injury, showed pace and intelligent passes.