This was a must win match for both teams, rooted at the wrong end of the league. Ivel had a strong squad to choose from and it showed.

Unlike their last match, Ivel came out strong from the beginning, and kept playing to their own game-plan and their strengths.   It was Taunton, however, that took the lead. Fly-half Robbie Miller scored a penalty. This spurred Ivel on and they managed to open their own account with a try from number eight Paul Mortensen.

The visitors turned the heat back up and, just before half-time scored a try through their own number eight Grant Gibson.     Half-time 5-8

The turn-around helped Ivel more than Taunton. Fly-half Tom Lane scored a penalty following an infringement by Taunton. Ivel’s man-of-the-match Andrew Cook led from the front with huge tackles and determination. Ivel managed to make use of decisions going their way. A fantastic piece of chasing fully three quarters the length of the pitch saw Ivel scrum-half John Evans score the pick of the tries.   A third try came from fly-half Tom Lane.

Captain Jamie Crichton said: “The performance today was 100 per cent better than last week. It showed that when we play our game we can beat teams.”

This was a game of two halves for Ivel. In the first the forwards gave ground to a stronger Somerton pack. Somerton’s points came from them taking advantage of possession won and tackles missed. It wasn’t that Ivel were a weaker team, they just didn’t take advantage of the few possession opportunities they had. Both sides struggled with passages of play disrupted by infringements and penalties. It was loose tackles that allowed the visitor’s flanker to score the first points of the game. He evaded some Ivel players to touch down. The conversion was missed. The next try came from handling errors by the Ivel defence allowing the Somerton fly-half in to score and then convert.

Half-time 0-12

The second half started with Ivel coming out with a stronger mentality. A change of prop for Ivel, Malcolm Pain replaced by Olly Hodgson, saw different tactics employed in the scrum and things stabilised. Ivel started to exert some of their own pressure and it paid off when replacement Jo Covu touched down in the corner.  Somerton fought back and managed to score again through their winger when he evaded tackles and split the defensive line. The conversion was missed. Then, following a succession of penalties, Neil Coram touched down by the post and Tom Lane added the conversion. Despite the efforts of Ivel’s man of the match Martin Coles the game ended with Somerton pressurising in the Ivel 22 and securing the win. This was a match Ivel needed to win; points are precious in the league at this time of the season.