IVYBRIDGE head to Hornets for the second time this season hoping to pick up where they left off in December.
The Bridgers were 12-0 up against their hosts in the National Three South West fixture when the game had to be abandoned due to bad light following a host of injuries, including a serious one to visiting captain Jay Geraty.
On Saturday, the South Hams side return to the Somerset club to replay the match.
“We’ve got to start from scratch again,” said Paterson. “We need to go up there and get re-pumped.
“We were 12-0 up last time and we were so close to half-time. We just need 20 minutes more, but you’ve got to put player safety first.”
Ivybridge go into Saturday’s re-arranged game on the back of a narrow 10-6 away defeat at Cleve, who had previously beaten them 52-21 at Cross-in-Hand at the end of October. In both games the Bridgers were missing key players.
“We went up to Cleve with a lot of players who had played the last game, but this time we came away with a point,” said Paterson. “That’s a massive turnaround and shows how far we have come and how we are developing players.
“There were so many positives last week. We’d have definitely taken getting a point from there as Cleve are a very good side, especially at their place.
“We played some very good rugby, it was just the line-out that let us down a bit, with us misses key players there. But there were a lot of foundations to build on.”
Fly-half Luke Martell keeps his place in the side, with Matt Grieveson still injured.
Tom Scoles is ruled out with an injury he picked up against Cleve. His place on the wing will go to Damien Ackerman, who is also named in the Devon Under-20 squad for Sunday’s match against Gloucestershire, alongside club team-mates Billy Pinkus, Sean Harrison and Joe Walker.
“It’s a massive honour for players to be selected for Devon,” said Paterson. “We are proud that a lot of our players are in the under-20 squad. It shows how young our first team is.”
Ivybridge do welcome back fellow player-coach Gareth Elliott this weekend, but are set to be without Mike Cox.
WESTERN COUNTIES WEST
DEVONPORT Services are another team this weekend forced to replay a game that was abandoned when they were leading.
Services thought they had beaten then Western Counties West leaders Kingsbridge 19-13 at the Rectory in December.
But the game ended in the 74th minute of normal time due to an injury to the referee.
Mano Tokoisuana and Matt Gregory scored tries for the city side, with Matt Anstis kicking three penalties.
But league officials ruled the game must be replayed as promotion-chasing Kingsbridge felt they could have still won the match had the referee not got injured and the final few minutes had been played.
Kingsbridge are now second in Western Counties West but they do have two games in hand on leaders Exeter University.
Services were left without a game last weekend due to the bad weather, but they have won their last three league matches to move to eighth in the standings.
Services in action against Kingsbridge at the Rectory (picture by Mark Andrews)
Elsewhere, relegation-threatened Saltash have a tough home match against promotion-chasing Okehampton.
Gareth Evans’ Okehampton side have only lost three times this season, whereas Saltash have lost their last 11 fixtures.
CORNWALL/DEVON
PLYMOUTH Argaum will be hoping to continue their good form when they travel down to Hayle in Cornwall/Devon League.
Sixth-placed Argaum have won their last five matches, but they were left without a fixture last Saturday when their game at Pirates Amateurs was postponed on the day.
Argaum only have one blank weekend left so they are hoping Saturday’s match at 11th-placed Hayle does beat the poor weather forecast.
“I just really want us to play,” said Argaum’s director of rugby Dave Sansom. “We’ve been training well and everyone is keen to play. There is nothing worse than training all week and getting everything organised only to have it called off and have to do it all over again.
“We are used to only playing 16 matches a season so this is proving a really long season for us.”
He added: “We are optimistic about going to Hayle. We are looking forward to it. It won’t be easy going there, but we feel we’ve got a good squad. It is all about attitude.”
Tavistock will be hoping Argaum can do them a favour and beat Hayle.
If they do then relegation-threatened Tavvy could move above them in the table if they beat bottom side Newquay away.
Meanwhile, OPMs’ Devon One match against North Tawton has already been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, while in Devon Two, Plympton Victoria are due to travel to Salcombe.