After an absence in 2020, the eagerly anticipated Boxing Day fixture between the Tavistock Locals and Tavistock Legends returned to Sandy Park.

The day saw over 40 players new and old participating in the match and a healthy crowd spectating on the sideline.

Club referee Brian Barclay kicked the game off after the traditional minutes silence to remember those club members we have sadly lost in years gone by.

The locals kicked off playing down the slope and were quickly counter attacked with good yardage being made by Jake Chinn and veteran Pete Davis. After some sustained pressure the locals turned ball over and countered well into the legends half only to concede a penalty. The impressive Alex Hudson cleared legend lines and from the resulting line out some good forward carries from Billy Boulton, Toby Teague and Darcy Bourton saw Pale Nonu crash over from close range.

The locals struck back quickly when Jack Easton and Jamie Legg linked well to release George Hillson to level the scores. This led to the locals taking advantage of the slope and spending large periods of the half in enemy territory. A fine break from Hillson saw him denied of a brace of tries with a Lawes-esq style try saving tackle from Charlie Fethney.

Despite many handling errors in the remainder of the half the locals dominance at the scrum was finally rewarded when Hillson capitalised from the back of a push over scrum to eventually double his tally and go ahead in the match for the first time.

The second half saw the introduction of many fresh legs to the pitch, well hydrated from the half time port. The legends kicked well into space from the boots of Keir Murphy and Ed Tait and were able to level the scores when Nonu bundled over for his second of the game.

Some good carries from Adam James and Captain Paul Greenhill saw the legends regain dominance only to lose possession when Ade Baker was stripped of the ball by Baker Junior. This turnover ball was to little avail as the legends closed in on a rare victory when a fine cross field kick from Hudson saw the impressive Ben Callard round his opposite number PJ Wilcox to score uncontested under the posts and open a seven point lead.

The Locals, unsure of when Barclay’s full time whistle would sound, stuck at it and attacked well from inside their own in-goal area to bring play up to the halfway line. With errors creeping in thick and fast, spilt ball was well tidied up by Richard Cann before eventually reaching the hands of Conor Packwood in acres of space to sprint home under the posts to give Martin Budden an easy conversion to wrap up the draw 17-17 on the full time whistle.

Huge thanks to locals captain Mark Tween for calling the raffle and Mark Lamerton for selling tickets. Over £200 was raised to help fix the steps that the latter broke earlier in the season.

An excellent day of rugby at TRFC.

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