Taunton and Tor Friendly

Topsham return to winning ways with a trip over the border into Somerset

Taunton U14s (0) v Topsham U14s (47) – First half
Tor U14s (0) v Topsham U14s (47) – Second half

Self-analysis from last week’s narrow loss to Crediton pinpointed weak defence and in particular not closing down the opposition attacking runners quickly enough. Following a master class from Doug Bell on the principles of a rush drift defence in training on Friday night, the Topsham players executed this with great effect against both Taunton and Tor.

Three “halves” made up the three team fixture which started with Taunton playing a half against Tor in a tightly contested game, following which Topsham played a half against Taunton, and finished with Topsham playing a final half against Tor.

Man for man the Topsham players were lighter than both Taunton and Tor, but in both halves Topsham played the game at a high pace, recycling quick ball and releasing wave after wave of quick attack. Intelligently varying the attack through the narrow channel and out to the wings Topsham were able to create holes in the defence and run tries in at will.

Once play became open forwards and backs inter-linked with short off-loads to supporting players to run in several well worked team tries. At other times quick hands saw the ball passed slickly down the back line and with an overlap and pace to score Topsham wingers ran in several tries.

Topsham had a great morning of rugby and played excellent selfless team rugby. So much so, that the Taunton coaches were full of praise for the ability of both forwards and backs to play as a team and inter-passing effectively to produce numerous tries.

Credit should be given to Taunton and Tor who were excellent opponents and played with an great spirit and determination through to the end of each half.

Points for Topsham were scored as follows:
First half – Taunton v Topsham:
Tries:
Harrison Fox x2
Henry Sims
Hamish Fraser
Tom Puddiphatt
Jake Martin
Josh Stone

Conversions:
Ben Helewell x6

Second half – Tor v Topsham:
Tries:
Hugo Hepburn x2
Zeb Winzer
Sam Reuben (from the 22 with a side step)
Toby Collins
Harrison Fox
Freddie Bridger

Conversions:
Alex James x5
Freddie Bridger x1