Clifton miss out on first away game

Taunton marked the 200th appearance of hooker Jon Gatford with a deserved victory over their local league rivals Clifton.

They outscored us 5 tries to four on a afternoon well suited to open entertaining rugby though at times it was frantic as both sides were seeking to establish rhythms and patterns at the start of the season.

We welcomed back Will Pomphrey from holiday and Sam Smee from the seaside.

The opening score came after 5 minutes when home full back Gary Kingdom landed a penalty after we had infringed in front of the posts,

We went into the lead with a quick passing move which ended when Pomphrey went over in the corner and fly half James Mackay converted.

Centre Alex Wilcockson who missed much of the previous season through injury along with fly half Toby East began to expose weakness’s on the visitors defence..

After 15 minutes a break by Kingdom supported by wing Mike Claydon ended with former Launceston scrum half Lewis Webb popping the ball up to Wilcockson who crossed for the first of his 3 tries,

The conversion was missed but Kingdom kicked a further penalty.

Clifton struck back following a forward rumble when hooker Rupert Freestone crossed with Mackay converting to put the visitors after half an hour.

The home side were totally in control for the remainder of the half and Wilcockson intercepted and raced in for a try converted by Kingdom followed by on the stroke of halftime by East crossing after a turn over and a move going through several hands to give his side a nine point lead.

The start of the second half was highlighted when replacement full back Freddie Gabbitass was successful with a penalty kick from just inside his own half, landed a kick from .

East crossed for his second try to increase the home sides lead and then Wilcockson completed his hat trick with fifteen minutes remaining. Gabbitass converted the final try.

Clifton came more into the game in the closing minutes with Mackay’s tactical kicking keeping Taunton penned in their own half and wing Sam Caven grabbed a brace of tries which eared a deserved try bonus point.