Taunton Titans made a flying start to the new year as they scored a half century against Barnstaple for the second time in National League Two South this season.
They blew the North Devon side away with five tries in 18 minutes before half-time to win 53-12.
This was much more like the Taunton who won their first nine games of the season – including a 52-3 demolition of Barnstaple – than the team who won only twice in seven games before Christmas. It will give them hope they can make up ground on the top three in the second half of the campaign.
For Barnstaple, it looked as though an injury list that head coach Steve Perry described as “disgusting” had finally caught up with them as they went a fourth league game without a win. There was little sign of the problem easing as influential centre Jake Murphy went off with a head injury.
Barnstaple took the lead in the fourth minute after good handling from James Starkey put Winston James through a gap and the ball was moved to the left wing where Luke Berry handed off Aron Struminski to score his fifth try of the season.
But Taunton were level little more than five minutes later and went on to dominate the half.
Pressure from the backs failed to bring a try but lock Stu Persey burrowed over from close range.
A succession of penalties in the home half went unpunished – with Barum flanker Matt Hague making a try-saving tackle on Isaac Dalton – but the floodgates opened in the 22nd minute when another penalty was kicked to the corner and hooker Paul Davis got the catch-and-drive try.
With Taunton’s line speed forcing handling mistakes from Barnstaple, winger Jack Claydon grabbed a loose ball and sprinted half the length of the field to dive over in the left corner in the 28th minute.
Three minutes later, prop Connor Baker threw a dummy and broke a tackle to go over from five metres for the Titans’ bonus-point try.
Davis crashed over under the posts for his second try five minutes before the break, then linked up with Lewis Webb to create a score for Ollie Rice, which Toby East converted for a 36-5 half-time lead.
It was more of the same early in the second half as Persey and Rice went close before Ratu Vakalutukali fumbled the ball but picked up to score Taunton’s seventh try.
Barnstaple gave the home fans something to cheer when Ryan Lee intercepted a pass from the otherwise excellent Taunton scrum-half Webb and ran in from the halfway line, but Titans quickly hit back with Dan Frost putting Struminski over in the right-hand corner.
Helped by two yellow cards for the opponents, Barnstaple enjoyed a spell of pressure and might have hoped to score the two tries that would have earned a bonus point.
But they were unable to find a way through the defence and it was the visitors’ 13 men who got the last score of the game when Nick Mason intercepted a pass in his own half and, with help from Struminski, got the ninth try.
Head coach Steve Perry admitted injury-ravaged Barnstaple “lost the plot” against Taunton Titans.
Perry’s side conceded five tries in 18 minutes to trail 36-5 at half-time.
They went on to lose 53-12 – the second time they have conceded a half century against Taunton this season – and are now without a win in four National League Two South games.
“It’s disappointing that the skipper and I had to tell them off at half-time,” said Perry. “I felt like we didn’t perform particularly well in the first half which resulted in quite a heavy scoreline.
“In the last 20 minutes of the first half it seemed like we were happy to let them score or to turn the ball over and accept that.
“That just seemed like the breaking point – 20 minutes of OK stuff, then 20 minutes where we just lost the plot.
“In the second half, after the skipper spoke to them, they produced a better performance. We’ve just got to try to use what we had in the second half for the whole game.”
Influential centre Jake Murphy went off with a head injury, joining a list of absentees which includes key players Bryn Jenkins, Ben Hilton, Gareth Evans, Jarrard Hayler, Ryan Carter, Linford Brock and Jordan Petherbridge among others.
“Let’s be honest our injury list is disgusting and I can’t keep ignoring that,” said Perry. “I’ve got so many quality players who aren’t playing rugby right now.
“We’re blooding a lot of youngsters, which is really positive for the club moving forward, but it’s a difficult time.
“There’s no way of getting round it. People who support Barnstaple know how many players we’re missing.”
Perry welcomed the spirit shown by his players in the second half which, on another day, might have brought a four-try bonus point.
“Some of the forwards really carried hard into brick walls and that’s a real good character test and really pleasing to see,” said the coach. “There was some really good endeavour out there but we didn’t quite have the quality to score points.”
