TAMAR Saracens will be hoping to move another step closer to Twickenham on Saturday when they play Totnes in the RFU Junior Vase.
Saracens have already overcome South Molton and North Tawton in the cup competition and if they can see off fellow Devon One side Totnes then they will be looking at the regional stages.
The city side will go into the clash on a massive high after beating OPMs 56-0 last week in the league.
Coach Stuart Busfield said his team’s performance against the Old Boys was the best so far under him.
“If I’m honest, it’s the first time in the two seasons I have been coaching the team that both the forwards and the backs have applied everything we have done in training. Both performed outstandingly. It really was a good team performance.
“The backs were getting all the plaudits but they can only do what they do because of the pack and they nullified OPMs’ pack.”
Saracens’ big derby win was the perfect way to respond to a disappointing 8-5 defeat at North Tawton in their opening league match. They had beaten the same team at their place a week earlier in the cup.
“We were beaten by our own mentality at North Tawton,” said Busfield. “We got their pitch into our heads.
“They are difficult to play at their place but I’m more than sure we can do a job on them at home.
“In this league you are not going to go unbeaten.
“We had three or four tries disallowed but we should have put that game out of sight but we got sucked into their game.
“But I had said to the guys before the season started that we would know where we stand after the first two games against North Tawton and OPMs.
“The team knew how important the OPMs game was. We stressed that before the game.”
Busfield is looking forward to this weekend’s cup game. Last year the club enjoyed success by winning the RNEC Cup.
“We’ve got Totnes and it’s another opportunity for us to flex our muscles against someone else in our league,” he said. “We tend not to go into games thinking this is a cup match or this is the league. We treat them the same. We are trying to create a winning culture. Winning is a habit.
“There is the chance to go all the way to Twickenham. That’s the pinnacle for any rugby player. The guys will be keyed up to try and get the win this weekend.”
Busfield says there is healthy competition for places in the first team squad. Last week their second team went to play Plymouth Argaum and had 10 bench players.
Totnes, like Saracens, have won one and lost one of their opening two league matches. They lost 17-27 at home to Wessex on the opening day before hammering South Molton 43-16 away last Saturday.