TITLE-chasing Tamar Saracens just managed to edge out their big city rivals Old Techs 10-5 in a Counties Three Devon South & West match played under the floodlights at Plymouth Albion’s Brickfields ground on Friday night.
Both clubs had been hoping to put on a try-fest in front of a decent crowd who braved freezing temperatures.
However, tries were certainly in short supply in the match that somehow lasted nearly 100 minutes, but cards and penalties were definitely not.
After 80 minutes it was 7-0 to Sarries, but Techs deservedly got a try in the 15 minutes of injury-time but they were unable to convert it and their neighbours wrapped up the game with a penalty with the last play.
“We did everything we could to try and not win that game,” admitted Tamar Saracens’ Mike Lewis afterwards.
“We gave the ball away too easily, we let them run at us and our set-piece was not good enough. I also don’t think we have ever won a game when we have conceded 30 or 40 penalties – I don’t think I have ever known a game where so many penalties have been given. It was incredible.
“It was a strange old game.
“It’s one of those games that it’s a win and we’ll chalk up the four points, but my days it was stressful.”
He added: “We said at the end we have to be better than that, but to be on our line for a good five or 10 minutes and keeping those big boys, who were running at us, out with two in the bin was phenomenal. That was the best bit of the game for me, even though it was our own doing that got us in that position.”
Techs head coach Dean Oram said he was really ‘proud’ of his team, especially with their second half performance where they dominated.
“I definitely think we had the better of the second half and they had the better of the first half,” said Oram.
“We are just trying to keep improving every week and we are doing that at the moment.
“This feels more like a win than a loss for us considering where we have come from.
“We are trying to build something and we still have a lot of people playing out of position so we can really hold our heads up high after putting in a performance like that.
“We just need to get that belief in what we are doing and get a consistent team out and I think we will start winning these games.
“Yeah, it is a million miles away from being perfect, but every week we are building.
“We just needed to be a bit more savvy at times. When we got into good areas we just weren’t savvy enough, but that’s stuff we can work on.”
The game struggled to get going. In the first half second-placed Sarries were penalised too many times but Techs kept missing touch and when Tamar Saracens did have the ball they found it hard to break down their rivals, who defended well.
It did not look like there was going to be any scoring in the first half but five minutes before the break, Techs had lock Nathan Webb sin-binned and Sarries took advantage. From the penalty they went to the corner and pressed. Eventually they got another penalty – there were plenty of them – which they tapped and prop Adam Coutts forced his way over. Lewis Harris added the conversion.
However, Techs came out determined for the second half and they had two really good chances in the opening 10 minutes but just could not get over the line.
In the 56th minute Sarries had hooker Adam Corbett yellow carded for a high tackle and Techs nearly scored down the left wing.
But two minutes later they had Webb sent off after he picked up a silly second yellow card for not retreating at a tap penalty.
However, that seemed to inspire Techs and the impressive Ollie Davey made a great break that got them up to the line but, once again, they just could not get over the whitewash, with Sarries defending well.
But then it almost became silly as Techs just pressed and pressed and Sarries just kept getting penalised by the referee.
Sarries had Scott Cooper and Josh Heath sin-binned within a minute of each other for professional fouls, but somehow they still kept Techs out.
Techs replacement Dan Pullen thought he had scored in the left corner but it was ruled out for a knock-on.
In injury-time, James Cluer became the fourth Sarries player in the second half to pick up a yellow card and eventually Techs did get a try and it was fitting that it came from lock Davey, who had an impressive game.
But Techs, who had lost their last game to Brixham II after missing a late kick, could not add the conversion and so they needed another score.
They did threaten one, which brought the crowd to life, but somehow Sarries stopped them and got a penalty to relieve the pressure and get up to the other end. Eventually they got another penalty, which Harris kicked to seal the match.
