RICHARD WEST’S trusty right boot helped the Plymouth Combination XV to a 27-22 victory over a Torbay & District select side at Keyham on Wednesday night.
Tavistock fly-half West kicked three out of three conversions in the first half as Plymouth led 21-12 and then he added a drop-goal and late penalty to end a second half comeback by the visitors.
The Torbay side, made up of players from Paignton, Newton Abbot, Brixham, Torquay and Teignmouth, started well and took an early lead thanks to a close range try in the corner from Rhys Cattell.
The visitors looked like they were going to dominated the game and Plymouth struggled to get out of their half for the opening 14 minutes.
But on the quarter-of-the-hour mark, Plymouth got into the match with a try in the right corner from Ivybridge prop Matt Finn following their first real spell of possession.
That score, which was converted by West, seemed to give the home team confidence and within four minutes they added a second converted try courtesy of lively St Columba & Torpoint scrum-half Ed Goodman.
Torbay responded with a second try in the 28th minute from former Devon player Dan Force, who was a constant threat in a lively visitors back three. That made it 14-12.
However, just before the break, Plymouth added a third touchdown when Tamar Saracen’s Steve Hodge went over following a tap penalty and West converted to give his side a nine-point advantage.
But Torbay upped their game after the interval and tries by Tom White and Sam Poustie put them 22-21 in front.
Their lead, though, only lasted a matter of seconds as from the restart Plymouth turned the visitors over and West kicked an impressive drop-goal to edge his side two points ahead.
He then kicked a penalty in front of the posts in the 79th minute after Torbay were caught offside.
The visitors pressed in injury-time but Plymouth held on for a memorable win.
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