HIGH-flying Devonport Services will be looking to change an unwanted record against Devon rivals Okehampton when the sides meet at the Rectory on Saturday.
Okehampton have won on their last four league visits to the Rectory, including a ast-gasp 24-20 victory last season.
“That was just after Christmas and, yes, we were missing a few but they probably were as well,” said Services head coach Ben Russell.
“It was a tight one and I remember it vividly as we were winning but some not very good defence right at the end allowed them to break from a breakdown and score.”
Third-placed Services are unbeaten at home this season and they did beat ninth-placed Okehampton 35-19 away at the start of the season.
“They started the season slowly, but, like they always do, they’ve come back and start picking up results,” said Russell. “They beat teams people would not necessarily expect them to beat.
“It should be a good game and a bit of a battle.
“We beat them at their place so they will want to come and try and beat us at ours.
“We just have to keep trying to match what Barnstaple and Chew do and try and keep winning.”
Services did not play last week due to a frozen pitch at Lydney.
Russell has decided to keep faith with most of the team that was due to start in the Forest of Dean, although winger Freddie Davies is unavailable this weekend, while scrum-half Dan Goldstone is set to return.
Ivybridge will be looking to try and get out of the bottom two on Saturday when they host Lydney at home.
The Bridgers boosted their hopes of staying up with a nail-biting 29-27 home victory over bottom side Weston-supre-Mare last weekend.
Although they stayed second-from-bottom despite that win, they are now level on points with third-from-bottom Matson who visit Exmouth on Saturday.
The Bridgers will be looking for revenge on Lydney who snatched a last-gasp 34-32 win at Regentsholme in September after the visitors had gone 22-0 up.
“We have to hang our hat on the fact that when we played them away we were 22-0 up at half-time so it is in us,” said Ivybridge head coach Davy McGregor, who is hoping his team can take advantage of two homes games in a row.
McGregor is still hoping his side can get some consistency with their set-piece, which has let them down at times this season.
The Bridgers are missing captain Sam Furse this weekend, but they are able to welcome back Will Peakman into the pack.
They do switch around their backline a bit, with Sam Brown starting at fly-half and Matt Grieveson moving to centre and Harry Cane coming in on the wing and Adam Lilley going to full-back.
COUNTIES ONE WESTERN WEST
TAVISTOCK will be expecting a fired up Kingsbridge side when they visit High House on Saturday in Western West.
Second-placed Kingsbridge will be looking to bounce back from last week’s top-of-the-table 44-22 defeat to leaders Plymstock Albion Oaks at Horsham Fields and also gain revenge for Tavistock’s 38-26 victory over them at Sandy Park in September.
“It’s going to be a tough encounter as they are going to be champing at the bit,” said Tavistock head coach Joel Caddy.
“They are a pretty decent side and on paper people would put them down as favourites.”
Conditions will be a bit different this weekend to when the teams met at Sandy Park on the second Saturday of the season when the pitch was rock hard and temperatures were scorching.
Meanwhile, leaders Plymstock Albion Oaks face the tricky long trip to west Cornwall to take on sixth-placed St Ives.
Saints are only four points behind third-placed Tiverton so Oaks will not be underestimating them, especially with them only having lost once at home in three seasons.
When the sides met at Horsham Fields in the second week of the season, Oaks triumphed 38-26 in an entertaining game that saw 10 tries.
The clubs have only met three times in league rugby, with St Ives winning the two previous meetings to this year during the 2015-16 season.
Oaks make the trip on a high after beating title-rivals Kingsbridge 44-22 last Saturday.
COUNTIES TWO
PLYMOUTH Argaum will be aiming to try and move further clear of the bottom two in Counties Two Devon when they host South Molton at Bickleigh Down on Saturday.
Argaum put some breathing space between themselves and the bottom two last weekend with an impressive 35-5 win over bottom side Ivybridge.
They know sixth-placed South Molton will offer a tough challenge, but they did show they could score tries against them away in September when they lost 40-31 at Unicorn Park.
“We have to try and target the game,” said Argaum head coach Dean Avery.
“We’ve just got to try and keep moving forward and try and get out of the bottom three.
“The good thing is there’s big competition for places at the moment and we still have players to come back in.”
OPMs, who sit one place and one point above Argaum with a game in hand, are also at home on Saturday when they host fourth-placed Withycombe at King George V Playing Fields.
Withycombe have been a bit inconsistent this season. They did beat leaders Torquay last month, but since then have lost away at Exeter Saracens and at home to Honiton.
OPMs, who have won three of their last four games, did push Withycombe hard away and dominated scrums but ended up losing 19-10.
Withycombe have won the last nine league meetings between the sides with OPMs’ only success over them coming in 1998.
Second-placed Devonport Services II should be relatively strong for their trip to struggling North Tawton.
With head coach Ben Russell set to keep faith with the majority of the first team that he named last weekend who did not get to play after their match with Lydney was postponed, it means the likes of Kieran Down and Mark Friend, who were not available last Saturday, are likely to play for the second team, while scrum-half Dylan Daley could make his return after injury.
Services II did beat North Tawton 70-10 at home in September, but the mid-Devon side are a different outfit on their own patch – and they proved that last weekend by beating third-placed Barnstaple II there.
Bottom side Ivybridge II, who are now 14 points from safety, have to make the long trip to north Devon to play Barnstaple II.
In Counties Two Cornwall, Saltash will be looking to bounce back from their frustrating away defeat to title rivals Redruth II last weekend when they host struggling Bodmin at Moorlands Lane.
Bodmin sit second from bottom and have only one win to their name, but Saltash know they cannot afford to take anyone lightly and need to keep collecting as many points as they can.
The Ashes name the same starting line-up that played last weekend, with the only change coming on the bench where Greg Eatwell returns.
When the sides met in Bodmin earlier in the season, Saltash triumphed 55-10.
Recent results have always gone with the Ashes, with Bodmin’s last league win over them coming as far back as 2004.
COUNTIES THREE
TAMAR Saracens want to try and re-discover their best form when they travel to city rivals Plympton Victoria on Saturday in Counties Three Devon South & West.
Second-placed Sarries have lost two of their last four games – against Paignton II and Dartmouth – and were pushed all the way by Old Techs at Brickfields last Friday before just edging the game 10-5.
“The Techs game we won but it wasn’t the performance we wanted and it was a bit of a grind,” admitted Sarries head coach Mike Lewis.
“The Paignton game before wasn’t the performance we wanted and was also a grind and the same with the Dartmouth game before.
“We have had a real run of tough games but we are hoping to put everything together now and really work on our shape and our patterns and do everything we can to score tries.”
But Lewis has warned his side not to take third-from-bottom Plym Vic lightly.
“To be honest, I think they are doing really well,” said Lewis. “I don’t know what their expectations were at the start of the season, but I think they are doing well considering the teams they are playing against in this league.
“We can’t underestimate them in any way shape or form as otherwise they could make us look foolish.”
Sarries are missing Adam Coutts, Adam Corbett, James Cluer, Scott Cooper, Lewis Harris, Jacob Blasdale, Greg Parrott and Josh Perkin, but they do welcome back James Barlow and Scott Sheldon could come out of retirement.
“We’ve got 20-21 available so we still have a strong squad who can hopefully get the job done,” said Lewis.
Plym Vic know it will be another tough test. They were beaten 72-0 away by them in a game-on fixture at the start of the season, but since then they have slowly established themselves back in league rugby.
They are just keen to put in a good performance after a frustrating first half last week against Torquay II. They are in the middle of a tough run of fixtures, mirroring the start to the season.
“We’re at home and hopefully, we will have a full squad and you do have to play all these teams at some point,” said chairman Chris Hunt, who admitted his main goal at the start of the campaign was to just try and fulfil all their fixtures.
Old Techs will be looking to build on their encouraging display against Tamar Saracens last weekend when they host fourth-placed Paignton II at Weston Mill.
Techs could easily have beaten Sarries at Brickfields last Friday with an impressive second half display.
The week before that they also just lost 17-15 to third-placed Brixham II after missing a last-gasp penalty to win.
“The last two games we have played two of the top three and lost by two points and five points,” said Techs’ Shaun Bedford-Smith.
“So we are there or there abouts and I think we are improving week by week. We do feel we are turning a corner.
“I think we showed last Friday that we can play a bit of rugby and can mix it with the teams above.”
But Bedford-Smith knows Paignton II could offer a stern challenge. The south Devon side did beat Tamar Saracens two weeks ago, but they were well beaten last week by Dartmouth.
Paignton II also beat Techs 18-15 at the start of the season.
“It was our first game of the season and we felt we did not do ourselves justice up there,” said Bedford-Smith.
“We came away thinking it was probably an away game we should have won.
“I think we have improved since then, but we know it is going to be another tough game.”
Techs are set to be without Josh O’Hare, Malvin Donono and Eddie Ramazani this week but they should be able to welcome back Steve Wilkinson, Jensen Baker, Ben Wheatley and Al Murray.
They could also hand debuts to new signings Dion Todd, who has joined them from Plymstock Albion Oaks, and Jack Johnson, who is new to the area.
In the same division, Plymstock Albion Oaks II have a tough home game against leaders Dartmouth, while Tavistock II host Kingsbridge II.
In Counties Three Cornwall, Saltash II visit Bude II.