DEVONPORT Services head coach Ben Russell has warned his high-flying side that they cannot afford to relax when they visit bottom side Weston-super-Mare in Regional One South West on Saturday.
Services returned to the top of the division last weekend by beating title-rivals Chew Valley 27-17 at home.
They will be big favourites to beat struggling Weston, who are 17 points adrift at the foot of the table and who have won just one game all season.
Services are likely to rest a couple of players with niggling injuries with a rescheduled game away at Lydney to play next Saturday, but Russell insists that does not mean they are taking their opponents lightly.
“The players won’t be allowed to be relaxed,” said Russell. “We have said that we can’t lose now. Yes, we have got that four-point buffer on Chew, but if we lose and they get five points then they are above us again.
“I know it is a cliché, but we have to go into every game as if it is a cup final. If we don’t then we will lose a game and potentially our hopes of winning the league will have gone.
“So, we need to put in a good performance and win. They are good at home. They pushed Chew quite hard there and it was 18-18 at half-time, before Chew just pulled away in the second half.
“If we turn up and perform like we did against Barnstaple and Chew then we should get the win, but if we don’t turn up, we know they have a big forward pack who have pushed some teams around.”
Russell knows it could be a big weekend for his team with their title rivals having tough games. Chew Valley host Exmouth, while Barnstaple entertain fourth-placed Launceston.
Services are set to bring Tyler Busfield and Ethan Millard into their pack, with James Hocking and Liam Jarvis not likely to be risked in Somerset.
In the backs Dylan Daley, Toby Knowles and Toby Lean are set to come into the squad with Dan Goldstone still struggling with a niggling injury and Matt Neyle and Charlie Groves unavailable.
Relegation-threatened Ivybridge face another tough weekend as they visit Devon rivals Brixham.
The Bridgers suffered a 68-16 home defeat to Barnstaple last weekend and a trip to Brixham would not really be at the top of their list of places they would like to visit as they aim to bounce back.
The Fisherman’s home record is impressive. They have only lost once at Astley Park this season and they have beaten all the top four sides there, while Ivybridge have only won one game on the road this term.
“They (Brixham) are coming off a loss so it’s not going to be easy,” said Ivybridge head coach Davy McGregor, who is a former Brixham player.
“It is a tough one as they don’t lose at home too easily.
“Then afterwards we have Chew Valley and Exmouth, but we have to play all these teams sometime. We can only control the controllables.”
The Bridgers are missing Matt Grieveson and Ben Watts, but they do have Sam Brown back before he goes to Australia and Jay Toogood will start at scrum-half after his short-term return to Cross-in-Hand. Harrison Legge and Owen Garner also come into the starting line-up, while last week’s try scorer Matt Skeener will move from the wing to flanker.
COUNTIES ONE WESTERN WEST
LEADERS Plymstock Oaks face a big away game as they travel to second-placed Tiverton on Saturday.
Tiverton are the only team to have beaten Oaks at home this season, triumphing 45-34 at Horsham Fields in November.
Oaks are currently nine points clear of them in the standings and so Tiverton will know if they want to stay in the title race then they will need to win on Saturday.
“It will be a good challenge and a good test,” said Oaks head coach Lewis Paterson, who is set to miss the game.
“We just have to keep putting in the results. If we can get a result it would be great, but Tiverton at home will be tough. I’m sure they will pull out everything they can, but we need to turn up.”
Oaks certainly turned up last weekend as they beat Tavistock 57-19 at Horsham Fields.
“It’s about taking that performance and building on it and doing something like that away,” said Paterson.
Tavistock, meanwhile, will be looking to end their four-game losing run when they host improving ninth-placed side Wivelisombe at Sandy Park on Saturday.
Tavistock’s recent poor run of results has seen them drop from third down to seventh in the table, but head coach Joel Caddy is hopeful his team can finally get back to winning ways this weekend and start moving back up the standings.
“We just have to try and get back on that horse and get a win,” said Caddy. “I don’t care how we get it.”
He added: “This is the worst losing streak I have had as a coach and we just need to get back to winning ways.
“We just have to front up, which we didn’t do at times last week against Oaks.
“But it won’t be easy as Wiveliscombe have been in some form of late.”
The Somerset side have won four of their last six games to move out of the bottom three. Last weekend they beat Bude 58-24 at home and also beat Oaks in their previous home fixture. However, Wivelisombe have so far not won on their travels this term.
Tavistock will have to make a host of changes to their team again this week.
“I think we have 52 players unavailable across the whole squad,” said Caddy.
Last week’s game at Oaks did come at quite a cost. Leion Cole, playing his first game back for Tavistock after returning from Launceston, suffered a serious knee injury which is likely to keep him out of the rest of the season – if not longer.
Fellow forward Jamie Legg also suffered an arm/shoulder injury in the opening minutes and Seb Cox suffered a nasty concussion, which might keep him out for a few weeks.
“It was not the best of days all-round last week,” added Caddy.
Backs Charles Bowden, Al Spicer, Jordan Taylor and Ethan Lamerton are also unavailable this weekend, but Jack Rock and Jack Easton should return.
Saturday’s match will see hooker Hammy Kerswill play his 200th game for the club and Caddy hopes his team-mates can make it a memorable occasion for him.
COUNTIES TWO
OPMs will be aiming for their first away win since November when they make the trip to Honiton on Saturday in Counties Two Devon.
The Old Boys put a couple of tough weeks behind them last weekend as they edged out Exeter Saracens 21-20 at King George V Playing Fields.
“Honiton will be another difficult game, but we just have to go in with that same confidence and that intensity,” said captain Billy Garratt.
“But it will be a difficult one. Honiton are like every team in this league – they are strong at home.
“We’ll just have to go up there and see what happens.”
OPMs did beat Honiton 18-16 at home in October so have the chance to do the double over the east Devon side, who have moved up to fifth in the table after a slow start to the campaign and who have won their last four games.
Meanwhile, Garratt has returned to training after breaking a couple of ribs, suffering a slight fracture to his sternum and torn cartilage in his rib cage in OPMs’ win over Exmouth II on January 6.
This weekend’s game might just come too soon for him, but he certainly has his eyes on the match against North Tawton on February 17.
Third-placed Devonport Services II are set to have a much-changed team as they host seventh-placed Withycombe at the Rectory.
The likes of Dylan Daley, Andy Pond, Ethan Millard, Toby Lean and Toby Knowles are set to step up the first team.
“We have a few boys missing and a few moving up to the firsts, but we should still have a good side out,” said Services head coach Ben Russell.
“The twos have been absolutely fantastic this season. They have all really bought into it as they know it is competitive in terms of the squad.
“When they have just come up short it’s been against bigger and older sides. Our side is mainly based around a bunch of 19, 20 and 21 year-olds and so they have done brilliantly.”
Tenth-placed Plymouth Argaum are on their travels as they head up the A38 to take on fourth-placed Exeter Saracens.
After picking up four points from games against Devonport Services II and Exmouth II, Argaum were well and truly brought back down to earth last weekend when they were beaten 69-0 by title-chasing Torquay Athletic.
“We just need to park that one and brush it under the carpet and try to build on the previous couple of months,” said Argaum head coach Dean Avery.
“We do have a few players to come back in.”
Eddie McGinley and Al Percival are among the players Argaum hope to have returning this week.
Exeter Saracens’ home form is impressive, winning six of their eight matches at Exhibition Fields, which included a victory over Torquay in their last home fixture.
Argaum, meanwhile, are still looking for their first away win, but they did draw with Exmouth II in their last road trip.
Elsewhere in Counties Two Devon, bottom side Ivybridge II could actually be relegated this weekend if they were to lose at home to North Tawton and Argaum were to win at Exeter Saracens.
The Bridgers second team are currently 27 points adrift from safety with just seven games to go.
Argaum, though, will probably be hoping Ivybridge II can beat North Tawton as it would keep them clear of the drop zone. North Tawton currently sit 11 points behind Argaum, but they do have a game in hand.
In Counties Two Cornwall, Saltash will be looking to continue their good form when they host mid-table Helston at Moorlands Lane on Saturday.
The Ashes have not conceded a single try yet in 2024 and have averaged more than 55 points a game in their matches during January, which included fixtures against St Austell II, Perranporth and Camborne School of Mines.
The Ashes have been able to keep a regular team during that period and they only make one change this weekend, with Ryan Simmons coming in to replace unavailable hooker Rob Walsh.
Greg Eatwell and Nick Blake are both named on the bench and could make their 100th appearances for the club if the come on, while starting winger Lewis Stuart will play his 50th game for the club.
Ashes youngsters James Sutton and Tom Hollyman, who have been first team regulars this season, both started for Cornwall U20s on Wednesday night in their 48-7 win over Camborne School of Mines.
And Saltash look like they will soon have some more talented youngsters coming through as their colts side have won their league with an unbeaten record and are through to semi-finals of the county league cup, where they will host Camborne at home on Saturday (12noon).
COUNTIES THREE
OLD Techs are looking forward to their first home game for two months when they welcome city rivals Plympton Victoria to Weston Mill on Saturday.
The last time they played at home was on December 9 when they narrowly lost 27-17 to Paignton II.
“It is just nice again to play at home,” said Techs’ Shaun Bedford-Smith.
Techs, though, are not expecting an easy game, despite Plym Vic sitting down in 11th spot.
When the sides met at St Mary’s in October, Techs had to dig deep for a 24-7 win.
“When we played them earlier in the season, I was quite impressed with them,” said Bedford-Smith. “They had some big boys up front and some good boys in the backs.
“I think they have done pretty well this season. They have come on massively.
“I also think the fact that they pushed a strong Oaks team close last weekend means we know that we can’t just turn up and win.
“That Totnes result was also a wake-up call to us.
“You just can’t take any team lightly in this league or you will get turned over.”
Techs claimed a bonus point 22-12 win at Tavistock II last weekend, which was only their second victory on the road.
“We were happy to go to Tavvy and get a win last week as our away form has not been the best,” said Bedford-Smith.
“It was not an easy game for us as it was a decent Tavy side and there’s still things for us to work on, but numbers have been decent in training.”
Second-placed Tamar Saracens are not totally sure what to expect from their home opponents, Kingsbridge II, on Saturday.
Last weekend Kingsbridge II could not raise a side to play Brixham II, they also handed Tamar Saracens and Old Techs walkovers earlier in the season.
However, when they have had a strong side out, they have put in some impressive performances and won six games.
“I think they have got a side this week,” said Tamar Saracens coach Mike Lewis, who is pretty confident his side will not take them lightly after seeing off Totnes 92-0 last weekend.
“We made sure we didn’t do that against Totnes last weekend.
“Against Plym Vic before Christmas we won 34-12 and they played really well to be fair, but we should have been better and we don’t want a repeat of that. We picked up two or three injuries in that game just because we were scrapping for every try, but against Totnes on Saturday it flowed and it was seamless at times and we played some great rugby.
“Totnes, to be fair, defended really well. We didn’t score off first phase or anything like that, it was five, six or seven phases before we could score, but we continued to play rugby and because we were playing with so much momentum and intensity we didn’t pick up those injuries.
“When you are battling teams you tend to pick up injuries.
“We played well last week, we played well against Brixham and Torquay and hopefully we can continue that this week.”
He added: “We have about 24-25 available this week.
“We’ve got lads who have been around a long time and some that have just started coming, but all are keen to have a game of rugby, which is great and just what you want. We seem to be building a good core group of players at the moment.”
Lewis was pleased to see new wing signing Leon Richards come on as a replacement last weekend and score two tries.
“He came on and did really well,” said Lewis. “We knew he had something about him but he didn’t really know people too well, however, he settled right in.”
In the same division, seventh-placed Plymstock Oaks II will host fifth-placed Salcombe at Horsham Fields.
Salcombe did win the corresponding fixture 34-20 at their place in October.
Tavistock II, meanwhile, are set to be under-strength for their trip to bottom side Totnes.
Due to injuries in their first team and players unavailable, the Moorlanders are going to have a much-changed team to the one that pushed Old Techs hard last week.
In Counties Three Cornwall, ninth-placed Saltash II will visit struggling Redruth Albany, who have only won one game this season.