TAMAR Saracens coach Stuart Busfield said he was disappointed with his side’s performance, despite their 26-8 win over local rivals Old Techs at Brickfields on Saturday.
The two clubs had swapped positions in league rugby at the end of last season, with Sarries winning promotion to Devon One and Old Techs dropping into Devon Two.
Saracens always looked to have too much for Old Techs in front of a good crowd at Brickfields, but the scoreline did flatter the Ernesettle team.
Old Techs had plenty of possession but were unable to make it tell, despite Sarries having two players sin-binned.
Their only try came in the 11th minute when Luke Honeychurch scored a counter-attack try in the right corner.
It looked like that might be the only score of the first period, but on the stroke of half-time Saracens went in front when Aaron Webb crossed for a converted try.
After the break, Tom Siggery doubled Sarries lead before they were then reduced to 14 men and Billy Evans kicked a penalty for Old Techs to make it 14-8.
Yet, while a man short, the Devon One new-boys scored a third try courtesy of wing Jamie Lovell, who collected a high bouncing ball on the left and ran in under the posts.
Techs then turned up the pressure and camped on Sarries line. Tamar found themselves down to 14 men again but Techs could not take advantage and Saracens counter-attacked and scored a fourth and final touchdown courtesy of Webb again.
Busfield said afterwards: “I was disappointed with our performance, even though we got the victory. We didn’t play with any shape or structure.
“They (Old Techs) played well and had a lot of ball, but one of the best bits of our game is our defence.”
He added: “We are going to be work on a few things before the league starts and we have got quite a few lads to come back in.”
Tamar Saracens’ game with Old Techs was one of four that took place at Brickfields on Saturday as part of Plymouth Albion’s Festival of Rugby.
The final match saw Devon Two strugglers DHSOB come back from 26-0 down to earn a 26-26 draw with Cornish Two outfit Camelford.
The comeback was down to strengthening their side second half with a host of player from the Plymouth Fiji rugby team.
Camelford, who dominated the first half, had no answer to the Fijians, who scored four tries and certainly brought some physicality to the game. A number of Camelford players certainly came off worse from clashes with DHSOB’s South Sea Islanders.
DHSOB director of rugby Mike Freeman said: “We started off nervously and lacked togetherness and they scored their first try on 10 minutes.
“But then their other two first half tries were just down to poor tackling from us – that’s why we are bottom of Devon Two. The Fijians did make a difference.”
