National 2 South

Taunton Titans 32, Barnes 27

AFTER the previous week’s emphatic win, the Titans came down with a bump and could quite easily have lost the game to a good Barnes team who quite literally played up to the last minute.

In fact, if it wasn’t for an Aron Struminski's try-saving tackle after his opposite number claimed an interception, the result would have been different.

The opening score went to the Titans through the boot of full-back Gary Kingdom before Barnes took the lead with a well-worked try out wide through winger James Adams.

With the conversion missed, Kingdom restored the Titans' lead with another penalty before they scored their first try of the afternoon from an unexpected source - loose head prop Jake Woolmore.

After some good approach play and a great offload, Woolmore hit a great line and found a turn of pace from somewhere to break through the defence and race to the line from the 22m line.

This was followed by another Titans try ,this one for scrum-half Lewis Webb who was back to his try-scoring ways of last season when he snuck around the side of breakdown to score out wide.

With both tries converted by Kingdom, it made the half-time score 20-5.

There were probably some harsh words said at half-time as the Titans looked a shadow of the team from the previous week with quite a few unforced errors, a high penalty count and uncharacteristic offloads that halted any type of phase play Taunton were trying to get into the game.

Add to this some poor defending, and the Titans needed to up their game in the second half.

However, it was the visitors that started the second half the brightest, scoring another good try out and, with a penalty for fly-half Tom O’Toole, there were only seven points separating the two sides.

The Titans' scrum started to dominate and cause the visitors some trouble but still the home side lacked flow in the attack.

The game then went tit-for-tat with the scores. The Titans were the next to score with captain Alex Spurdle crashing over as he took a wide arc to find the weakest point in the defence which Kingdom converted.

Then O’Toole converted his own try to make the score 27-20.

Taunton scored their bonus point try through Sam Skinner. The Titans finally strung some phases together and after simple hands by Jack Owlett, Skinner went over in at the corner.

However, it was Barnes who had the last say in the game with a converted try on the final whistle to finish the game 32-27 and, with that try, two well- deserved bonus points for the visitors.

The Titans face a tough prospect next week with their first away game of the season when they make the trip just over the Tamar to take on Cornish All Blacks at Polson Bridge.

The All Blacks are looking for their first win of the season and, as a lot of the current Titans squad will know, that is a dangerous time to face the Launceston team at home.

Taunton Titans: 15 Kingdom, 14 Struminski, 13 Mason, 12 Fraser, 11 Claydon, 10 East (Brown 61), 9 Webb (Claxton 57), 8 Prior (Newsam 37), 7 Frost (Davis 42), 6 Skinner, 5 Turner (Spurdle 74), 4 Hales, 3 Caulfield (Owlett 57), 2 Spurdle (Capt) (Prior 61), 1 Woolmore

Tries: Woolmore 31, Webb 37, Spurdle 56, Skinner 71

Conversion: Kingdom 32, 38, 57

Penalty: Kingdom 2, 27

Referee: Robert Warburton

Attendance: 350