SALCOMBE RFC went into this quarter-final of the Papa John’s Shield with reasonable expectations, tinged with a tad of concern.

North Tawton finished second in the sister league and clearly were not going to be a pushover by any means. This concern was justified when the North Devon side put up 12 points before the Crabs had registered on the scoreboard.

All of the early pressure came from Salcombe but they just couldn't get across the line and paid the price at the other end.

The Crabs then re-asserted their dominance, moving play to the Tawton line and showing all his class, veteran Jonathon Squire playing at 10 got the ball from a ruck, shimmied, scooted through the gap and cantered the last few metres to the line. Adam Squire converted and as the half-time whistle blew, Salcombe were only 7-12 down.

Squire was the difference-maker once again, initiating a move which saw the ball through a number of hands before Hooker Matt Harvey went over in the corner for 12-all.

This was followed up by probably the best try of the afternoon when, again, following soft Salcombe hands, Charlie Rawlinson received the ball 40 metres out. He used his speed to round the opposition and then batter his way over for an unconverted try to put Salcombe in the lead for the first time, at 7-12.

Two further unconverted tries followed for Salcombe, both going to young Salcombe players Adam Squire and Tom Langley who had shown up well throughout the game.

Captain for the day James Lake put the icing on the cake with another converted try, giving Salcombe an impressive 34-12 victory.

Coming up next, on Saturday, Salcombe welcome Ashley Down Old Boys to Twomeads, for a 3pm kick-off in the shield semi-final. All support for the Crabs is appreciated!