Report courtesy of the Herald Express

TICS FAIL TO THREATEN BARUM'S HOME RECORD


11:00 - 26 November 2007

This third defeat in a row leaves Torquay lagging back in fifth place as the halfway stage approaches and with six points to make up on leaders Exmouth.Barnstaple haven't lost a home game in the league for more than two years and that record was never under threat from Torquay.

"We had as much possession as Barnstaple and maybe a bit more," said Torquay's director of rugby Colin Rylance.

"What we couldn't do was turn possession into points and never really looked like scoring a try.

"Barnstaple's discipline was good as they gave away very few penalties. There wasn't much in the game and it could easily have gone our way on kicks with a few more penalties.

In a game of few chances Barnstaple created a couple more than Tics and put two of them away for tries.

Barum were ahead after less than a minute thanks to a Neil Giddy penalty.

Torquay levelled through Matt Jackson on 15 minutes, and it stayed 3-3 until the half-hour mark when Giddy scored a solo try and converted it as well.

Jackson got it back to 10-6 by the break. There was no further scoring until Barnstaple got a running move going which ended in Danny Gross releasing full-back Paul Scheres for a try.

A third Jackson penalty kept Torquay close enough to worry Barnstaple, but the home side ran down the clock in the last 10 minutes without any scares.