Winscombe scored a late converted try to salvage a draw against Tor.

Winscombe 15 pts

Tor 15 pts

A LATE converted try by Winscombe gave them an unlikely draw against Tor.

The visitors took the lead with a penalty after five minutes, but Winscombe soon equalised with Steve Pugh’s effort from 30 metres after good work by Aaron Ford.

Tor were camped in home territory, but despite mixing up their game, the defence was rarely breached, with two penalty attempts missed.

Winscombe’s one area of dominance was at the scrummage and in the 22nd minute, Will Thomas linked with Lewis Podpadec on his own 22 to send Podpadec streaking down the tramlines. He passed inside for Thomas to run in under the posts, but Pugh’s conversion attempt bounced back off the upright.

Tor continued to attack for nearly the whole of the second quarter with Winscombe again mostly limited to trying to clear of their lines but were unable to turn possession into points.

The visitors came close to scoring but good work by Callum Stewart and Pugh bundled the attacker into touch.

But for crucial tackles by Pugh, Stuart Warren and Stewart, Tor twice came close to scoring in the first three minutes of the second half. Pressure close to the line eventually told when the left winger squeezed over in the corner to bring the scores level.

Having had the vast majority of possession and now with the slope in their favour, the odds were on a Tor victory, but the game became as stodgy as the pitch it was being played on.

With Winscombe with a man in the sin bin, Tor set up a good attack, but Tom Ware brought him down five metres short of the line, from where a forward drove over to touch down. The conversion gave the visitors a seven-point lead with eight minutes remaining.

Tor found themselves in trouble when they were penalised at the breakdown after Matt Truscott’s drive and had a forward sent to the bin. They conceded five more penalties in quick succession and found themselves two forwards short defending a five-metre put-in in the final minute.

Winscombe’s attempted pushover was halted two metres short, but quick hands by Salway and Flower gave Jim Rutherford room to force his way over. Pugh held his nerve to add the conversion to pinch an unlikely draw.