CHAMPIONS Devonport Services ended their successful Regional One South West season on Saturday with a 42-34 away win at Matson.
Having already clinched the title before Easter, Services were able to rest players ahead of a match against the Royal Navy on Wednesday night and a cup semi-final against Ivybridge next Saturday.
Yianni Costas, Aaron Duffield, Kyle Felton, Jonah Moore, Charlie Groves, George Pooley, Ethan Hilland and Josh Cumberland all got first-team chances in Gloucestershire.
“We had a few boys missing and we had three debutants,” said Services head coach Ben Russell.
“For the lads that had never played at level five before it was a cracking day for them. They all did really, really well and it was cracking to be able to do it.
“We weren’t nowhere near our best, but we still had enough in the tank to come away with a win.
“Matson played some lovely rugby and threw the ball around, as did we. No-one really wanted to defend.”
Services scored six tries on the day, with Tom Davies scoring two – one in each half.
Liam Jarvis also marked his 100th appearance for the club with a touch-down, while Toby Knowles, Moore and Shaun Crawford also crossed the whitewash, with Richard West kicking the rest of the points.
Services now turn their attentions to a prestigious match against the Royal Navy at the Rectory in mid-week.
“It is the Navy’s last game before they play the RAF,” said Russell. “Taunton pulled out of the game and we have happily stepped up to play. It should be good.”
Ivybridge ended their 2023-24 Regional One South West campaign with a 48-31 defeat against Launceston at Polson Bridge.
However, with Matson also losing, Ivybridge ended the season in ninth spot.
Having gone 31-7 down in the first half and then 48-14 behind in the second period, the Bridgers did show character to make a comeback and secure a try-scoring bonus point.
“From Thursday night we had five changes and there were another two debutants,” said Ivybridge head coach Davy McGregor.
“It did change the structure of how we were looking to play, which was a little bit frustrating.
“Launceston is a hard place to go and they played their pitch really well.
“We got a little bit shell-shocked by how bad the pitch was. It meant we couldn’t really do anything so it was a case of going back to basics and just trying to keep the tempo up.
“We did get a bonus point. We got four converted tries and a penalty. Not many teams have done that at Polson Bridge. There’s not been many teams broke the 20-point mark there.”
He added: “At the end of the day in the big scheme of things it didn’t make a real difference, but the boys can hold their heads high as we have got through this season.
“We have had 12 debutants this year all under 22.”
Having gone 17-0 down early on, Ben Scott pulled a try back for Ivybridge, before Launceston scored two more tries before the break to lead 31-7.
Scott scored a second try just after the interval to make it 31-14 but the hosts scored three more tries to extend their lead to 48-14.
Ben Watts pulled another back for Ivybridge with 10 minutes to go which sparked a strong finish which resulted in them bagging an away point.
COUNTIES ONE WESTERN WEST
PLYMSTOCK Oaks’ head coach Lewis Paterson felt there were plenty of positives from his side’s narrow 26-22 defeat to fellow top three side Paignton on Saturday.
Both teams scored four tries, but the goalkicking of Paignton’s Brad McKee proved the difference.
Paignton had gone into the game knowing they needed a bonus-point win to try and sneak the title ahead of Tiverton.
In the end both Paignton and Tiverton picked up five points, which meant they finished on the same total, but Tiverton took the crown thanks to one more win and a better points difference.
Oaks finished third and did finish with 18 try-scoring bonus points from their 22 league games.
“It was a pretty even game,” said Paterson on Saturday’s match. “If we had got our goal-kicks we probably could have won the game.
“I am not taking anything away from Paignton, but we were very dominant even though we had a lot of injuries.
“I didn’t play, Matt Finn went off within the first 10 minutes, Tom Richards wasn’t available and Corey Jamieson had to pull out late on, so we had a real shuffled squad, but we played really, really well.
“We played some really good rugby.
“Paignton were going to be up for it because they wanted to put themselves in the best position, but that game was ours for the taking.
“It was a better game to finish the league season off with than our last match against Kingsbridge.
“It was a lot more positive, and we feel we do have a squad that can go forward next year.
“We are the highest try-scoring bonus point team in the league by a country mile even though this year as been the wettest year on record and we haven’t had much of a line-out.
“We just have to be even better when it comes to the wet months.”
Robbie Hall scored two tries for Oaks at Paignton, with Matt Jackson and Alex Chapman also crossing the whitewash and Pete Keanie adding one conversion.
Tavistock finished their first season back at level seven on a high with a 57-5 home victory over bottom side Falmouth.
The bonus-point win meant Tavistock overtook St Ives to finish seventh in the table.
Captain George Hillson led the way with three tries and six conversions.
The home side were 31-0 up at half-time.
In windy conditions, Al Spicer got them underway with their opening score before Liam Watts and Ed Tait added their second and third tries. Hillson then went over for two before half-time.
Jack Easton opened the scoring in the second period before Hillson and Watts added further touch-downs. Replacement prop Richard Cann then capped a good day for Tavistock with a 40-metre interception try.
Falmouth did score a late consolation effort, but it did not take the gloss of a fine display by Tavistock.
“We played the type of rugby that got us into this division and which we played at the beginning of season,” said Tavistock head coach Joel Caddy.
“We were bloody good. That may have been our best performance of the season and you would have a hard job picking a man of the match as all the lads stood out.
“Falmouth were not the side that we played at the start of the season, but they did battle away and got a try and threatened our line on a few occasions, so it was not all one-way traffic. You have to give them credit as they did stick at it.”
COUNTIES TWO CORNWALL
SALTASH ended their league season in style with a 17-try demolition of a plucky St Just side at Moorlands Lane on Saturday.
The Ashes ended up triumphing 107-5, which was their biggest win of the campaign. It was the second time in two months that they had scored a century of points, having beaten Helston 100-15 in February.
The five points they picked up on Saturday meant they finished their season with a massive 103 points from their 22 games.
But agonisingly for them that still was not enough to win the title, with Redruth II finishing on 109 points.
Will Morton led the way for the Ashes on Saturday with six tries, including three in the space of 10 minutes in the first half.
St Just did keep battling until the final whistle but they just could not contain the fast-flowing Ashes team that were back to playing their best open rugby of the season as they build up to their cup campaigns.
Tom Rixon opened the scoring after five minutes with Lewis Stuart following with a touch down four minutes later and Danny Snook adding the extra points to make it 12-0.
Winger Morton was in scintillating form and ran through the visiting defence to score three tries in 10 minutes and with conversions that put the home side 31-0 after 24 minutes.
St Just got a deserved try when their forwards finished a rare excursion into the Ashes 22 on 32 minutes.
But Saltash instantly replied with Snook going in behind the posts and Morton then scoring again following a kick ahead to conclude the first half, with the Ashes leading 43-5 at the interval.
The second period started with skipper Jay Moriarty getting on the end of a well-worked move on the right wing within two minutes.
More Ashes tries came at regular intervals through Phil Eatwell, who ran through St Just’s defence, Ryan Cruickshanks and Morton to make it 69-5 within 12 minutes of the restart.
Continuing to play in a confident and relaxed manner Saltash piled on the points with tries by Cruickshanks, Ryan Rayner, Jason Carroll, Morton and Lewis Wells. The conversions were kicked by Danny Snook (7) and Jack Pritchard (4).
COUNTIES TWO DEVON
THERE was little to cheer about for the Plymouth area teams in Counties Two Devon with them all losing on the final day of the season.
Third-placed Devonport Services II fielded a much-changed side for their match against sixth-placed Honiton at Keyham and they were beaten 35-17.
Backs Toby Moss, Lewie Riley and Luke Stannard scored tries for the home side, but they left themselves too much to do having trailed 27-5 at half-time.
Ollie Rice (2), Jake Johnson and James Goodman scored tries for Honiton, who had Jonny House kicking the rest of their points.
Plymouth Argaum travelled short-handed to champions Barnstaple II and so handed them the walkover before kick-off so they could play a friendly and borrow some players.
Barnstaple II did win the game 80-0, but Argaum did avoid a points deduction next season by travelling to north Devon.
“The important thing was we travelled,” said head coach Dean Avery. “We had 13 or 14 on Friday, but a couple dropped out.
“We had certain players who delayed going away, someone else came down from Portsmouth for the game and someone travelled back from watching Argyle the night before at Rotherham, so we had some really good commitment.
“But it’s frustrating when we have 60 or 70 players on our books, but we can’t get a full team for a game that has been in the calendar since last September.
“It is frustrating for the coaching staff, but, that said, Barnstaple were very appreciative that we did travel.
“I think they probably had 400 or 500 people there watching and there was someone from Devon there to present them with the cup. We played our part in their day and we managed to get some rugby on and it was great to fulfil the fixture, but I’m just disappointed we travelled so light to be honest.”
OPMs ended their campaign with a disappointing 32-0 away defeat at fifth-placed South Molton, but they still finished eighth in their first season back in the league.
South Molton ran in six tries courtesy of Brendan Darley (2), Jack Routley, Tom Cumings, Jack Steer and James Tapp.
There was also disappointment for bottom side Ivybridge II who were beaten 71-14 at home by second-placed Torquay Athletic.
Morgan Alcock and Matthew Allonson both scored hat-tricks for Torquay, with Ryan Hanauer bagging two and George Helmore and Ashley Sharp also touching down.
COUNTIES THREE
TAMAR Saracens and Old Techs ended their league campaigns with big home wins.
Sarries triumphed 52-5 over Tavistock II at the Parkway thanks to a hat-trick from Rob Hall, while Techs won 51-12 against Kingsbridge II at Weston Mill.
Tamar Saracens’ set piece, especially their scrum, proved the big difference in their success over Tavistock II.
The visitors, with former first team captain Martin Budden playing at fly-half, did play some good rugby when they did get the ball, but they were just totally over-powered at every scrum and could not win any line-out ball.
Centre Greg Parrott opened the scoring for Sarries in the fourth minute with a converted try before hooker Adam Corbett crossed in the right corner seven minutes later from a short line-out move. Hall converted both efforts.
Tavistock II did pull a try back on 34 minutes when hooker Cameron Wallace, who impressed for the visitors with his strong running, scored on the right.
But Tavistock II then lost scrum-half Jared Hunter, who had started the game well, with a nasty-looking knee injury which left them without a specialist half-back.
Straight from the restart scrum following Hunter’s injury, Sarries scored a third try with Hall going over in the right corner for his first of the afternoon.
And in first half injury-time, the home club were awarded a penalty try after Tavistock were pushed off a scrum on their own line and the visitors were also given a yellow card.
Straight after the interval, Hall got his second try after Sarries pushed Tavistock off another scrum and went wide quickly.
Their set-piece dominance was evident again when in the 64th minute they drove Tavistock back 10 metres at a scrum for number eight Joey Pook to touch down.
Scrum-half Lew Harris then scored a great try. He took a quick tap penalty just inside his own half and broke before feeding full-back Frazer Tatchell, who could have probably scored himself but he unselfishly returned the ball to Harris to touch-down.
Hall then completed his hat-trick three minutes from time when he went over in the right corner after Harris tapped a free-kick at a scrum and fed him.
Tamar Saracens head coach Mike Lewis said: “Tavvy have some great players in there, including their ex-first team captain, and some young lads who have stepped up from the colts.
“We knew it was going to be a bit tricky and I think they left some points out there as well as us.
“We do need to be a bit more clinical going into next week and make sure we finish a few more, but at the same time we are pretty happy with that performance, especially considering the pitch was pretty heavy underfoot.
“We played some great rugby, but you could see when boys broke the line that they looked like they were running in treacle after about 10-metres.
“But I really enjoyed it. I thought we really stuck to the task well. I thought the forwards really worked hard and did what was asked.
“We introduced a few things this week that they have taken on board and I thought they did that really well.”
Old Techs ran in nine tries as they beat Kingsbridge II 51-12 to finish sixth in the table.
They were 29-0 up at half-time thanks to tries by Conor McQueen, Billy Evans, Ben Hockey and two from Sion Norvill.
After the interval, Nathan Webb bagged two, with Lee Puleston scoring his first senior try before replacement Jack Williams also crossed the whitewash.
Techs chairman David Evans said: “They (Kingsbridge) came down with 14 players so we lent them a winger and, to be fair, they never gave up and it was good that they honoured the game.
“We are definitely going in the right direction and there is a really good vibe at the moment ahead of the cup games.”
Plympton Victoria’s away game at Brixham II and Plymstock Oaks II’s match away at Paignton II were both postponed due to waterlogged pitches. Those games are expected to go down as 0-0 draws with all the teams collecting two points.
In Counties Three Cornwall, Saltash II were beaten 43-10 at home by second-placed Wadebridge II.
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