The contented smiles on the faces of Clifton President John Raine and Head Coach Matt Salter at the final whistle showed both pride and relief at the manner in which Clifton won this exciting local derby.

Relief at the first away victory since early last season at Launceston and enormous pride in the team playing with such control and ever increasing confidence throughout the team to turn around a twelve point deficit in the final quarter and thereby overturn the form book

With perfect autumn conditions Taunton started brightly with a penalty by Gary Kingdom before Brad Barnes replied within three minutes. A Richard Bright for the Titans try was then followed by an exchange of penalties between the two kickers

Following strong Clifton pressure Alfie Too-ala forced his way over the line with Barnes touch line conversion hitting the upright. With the scores tied it was a breakaway try by Dan Frost and Kingdom conversion which gave the home side a half time lead of 18-11.

The strong running Clifton skipper Dan Wells powered through to cross with the ever reliable Barnes converting to level the scores. Two driving maul tries with Kingdom converting one led to a comfortable twelve point home lead as the game entered the final quarter

The final stages of the game belonged to Clifton whose best display of the season with both forwards and backs showing great commitment, skill and desire to keep the ball in hand and

rattle their hosts. Sustained attacks led to a try by speedy replacement wing Finlay Sharp and a sharp break by scrum half Mitch Spencer skipping under the post. With the consistent Barnes calmly converting both scores the final whistle gave the lavender and blacks a richly deserved victory which many had not expected.

This strong performance shows that Clifton’s season is definitely back on track with the ability to play smart attractive rugby against any team in this league.

Roger Opie