OLD TECHS have reached a second cup final of the season after they overcame Exeter Athletic in the Devon Junior Bowl semi-final on Saturday, but there was cup disappointment at the weekend for Plymstock Oaks, Tamar Saracens and OPMs.
Oaks were beaten 52-22 away at Sherborne in the Papa Johns Community Cup Counties One Championship.
Both clubs had finished third in their respective level seven competitions, but Oaks travelled with a much-changed side to Dorset and Sherborne pulled away in the second half.
“They were pretty good,” said Oaks head coach Lewis Paterson about his side’s opponents.
“We had a lot of boys drop out at the last minute and so we had to shuffle the squad and bring a few in.
“But I thought we did well and it was a nice bus trip.
“We lost basically all our front-row, which meant it was a bit of a tough gig as they were good up front, but we actually played some good rugby.
“For a mix-and-match squad we did really well and there’s positives for next year.
“These cup games at the end of the season are quite good to have a look at a few lads.
“We were able to take a squad of 22 and everyone who came up played, which was the main thing.
“We started off well but then they had a player suffer a nasty injury in the first half and we had to change pitch and as the game got on they started to run away with it a little bit.”
Oaks did score four tries, with Paterson getting two to go with further touch-downs from Harvey Courtis and Tomasi Keresi.
There was also Papa Johns Community Cup disappointment for Tamar Saracens who were narrowly edged out 17-13 at home by league rivals Dartmouth in a Counties Three Championship knock-out tie that went down to the final play.
The sides had finished first and second in Counties Three Devon South & West and the two previous meetings had also been decided by one score, with Dartmouth winning 14-11 at their place and 14-10 at the Parkway.
It was always likely that the third meeting of the two teams would be just as close – and so it proved.
Sarries had started really well and had gone 13-3 up, but unbeaten Dartmouth came back with a try and three penalty kicks, only for the home team to nearly snatch victory right at the death.
Saracens thought they should have been awarded a penalty try or at the very least a penalty with the last play, but when the ball went wide the referee actually gave Dartmouth a penalty, which allowed them to tap it and kick out to win the match and progress in the cup.
“It was one of those games where it was always going to be fine margins,” said a disappointed Tamar Saracens head coach Mike Lewis. “The game was never going to be won by much and at the end there you had to think what did we have to do to get that decision.
“To be fair at the end, we shouldn’t have gone wide; we should have kept it in, but there should have been an arm out (for a penalty).
“Yet we also should have won it earlier. We should have done more to win that game at the start and middle of that second half, but we didn’t do enough.”
He added: “In the first half we played some great rugby and we looked great.
“Second half we were on our feet a little bit. I thought we looked a bit jaded – a bit tired – in that second half. And we didn’t quite get the rub of the green and a few decisions put us under the cosh and gave them a few penalties which they kicked.
“It was always going to be a close one. I do think we did enough in the first half to score a couple more tries and we did enough right at the end there to win the game, when we were very unfortunate.”
In front of a large crowd at the Parkway, Sarries started well.
Rob Hall missed an early penalty and Dartmouth did actually go in front when their fly-half Sam Churchill did kick a three-pointer, but Sarries hit back straight away with a try in the right corner by Reece Boase after a chip over the defence.
Myles Churchill had a great opportunity at the other end for the visitors, but he just lost the ball near the line and Sarries extended their lead when Hall kicked a penalty on 24 minutes.
Dartmouth missed a penalty before Frazer Tatchell scored a second try for Sarries when he went over in the left corner after Greg Parrott did well to put him away. That made it 13-3 to the home club.
But just before half-time, Sam Churchill reduced the gap with another penalty, having missed one two minutes earlier.
Despite such a promising first 40 minutes, Sarries just could not get out of the half in the second period.
Dartmouth, having missed another penalty at the start of the second period, cut the gap to 13-11 with a try by full-back Richard Lobb in the left corner on 55 minutes.
And almost straight away they got another penalty which Sam Churchill kicked to edge his side in front.
He then kicked another on 64 minutes after Sarries were reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes.
Dartmouth continued to press and it was not until injury-time that Sarries got out of their half and put the pressure on their opponents.
After losing one line-out close to the line, they got another chance. This time they did win it and drove. Nearly everyone joined the maul and they pushed Dartmouth back 10 metres and it looked like they were going to score a winning try, but the drive appeared to be pulled down on the line. However, no decision came from the referee and eventually Sarries threw the ball wide. The home side also felt there was a high tackle on one of their players as they looked for a gap to score, but it was eventually Dartmouth who got a penalty which allowed them to tap and kick out for the win.
OPMs had an afternoon to forget in their opening semi-final leg of the Devon Junior Shield.
The Old Boys were beaten 80-22 at home by Exeter Saracens, having been 45-0 down at the break.
They now have to pick themselves up to travel to Exeter Saracens next weekend for the second leg.
They at least did score four tries in the second period, with Fred Smale bagging two and Matt Price and winger Adam Jarrod also touching down.
It was OPMs’ second cup defeat in four days, having lost a tough Lockie Cup semi-final to Saltash in mid-week.
“We had a lot of unavailability and we had a lot of twos in there,” said captain Billy Garratt. “Our front five was all front-row.
“I think there was an element of a lot of boys just wanting the season to be done.”
Garratt admitted they have even more unavailable for the second leg.
However, Old Techs were celebrating on Saturday after they beat Exeter Athletic 33-14 at home in the one-legged semi-final of the Devon Junior Bowl, with Billy Evans and Jack Courtney scoring all their points.
They will now host New Cross in the county final next Saturday, which will fall just days before they also play in the Ellis Trophy final.
Techs played against the wind first half and were only 15-14 ahead at the break, with Courtney scoring two tries and Evans kicking a conversion and a penalty.
But after the interval they pulled away with Evans scoring two tries, two penalties and a conversion.
“It was a bit of a struggle at the start, but in the second half we took over,” said Techs chairman David Evans.
“It was a good day and we’re happy. We have got two finals now in four days.”
Ivybridge, Tavistock and Plymstock Oaks II all pulled out of Devon cup semi-finals.
Ivybridge’s first and second teams should have been playing Devonport Services in the Devon Senior Cup and Devon Second XV Cup, while Tavistock should have been playing Bideford in the Devon Junior Cup and Oaks II had been due to play Topsham II in the Devon Second XV Shield. Saltash were handed an away walkover by Warminster in the Papa Johns Community Cup.
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