A YOUNG Devonport Services III team showed a real clinical edge to beat the Peninsula Medical School 51-22 on Wednesday night and lift the Pedrick Cup.
The Medics had plenty of possession and territory in the final at Keyham, but Services III defended brilliantly and then pounced on nearly every mistake the students made.
The final scoreline was tough on the Medics, but they paid a heavy price for gifting their opponents too many tries.
The Medics took the lead after just eight minutes when hooker Lewis Morgan scored from close range in the left corner.
Leighton Stark kicked a penalty for Services III to reduce the deficit before his half-back partner Billy Sutton scored a fine try from a scrum move in the 19th minute to put his side 10-5 up.
The Medics did continue to press and Services III had captain Ciaran Poat yellow carded for a high tackle on 27 minutes.
And the students made the extra man tell almost immediately when impressive prop Harry McCartney scored in the corner to level the scores.
Stark kicked another penalty four minutes later to edge Services III 13-10 ahead.
And the Medics suffered a major blow in the final two minutes of the first half. They had a tried ruled out following a cross-kick and then they gifted Devonport a try when they had a pass intercepted as they attacked and Services full-back Brandon Bonser ran the length of the field to score. Stark added the conversion to put his side 20-10 up at the break.
Stark then kicked another penalty at the start of the second period before missing one, but Services did take a commanding lead in the 48th minute when Sam Fincham scored a try after Poat had done well.
The Medics did close the gap back to 13 points with another try by captain McCartney, but then they gifted Services another try when they threw the ball across their own line only for Connor Yeoman to pounce on it and score.
It got even better for Services when Josh Hemmings touched down before Poat intercepted another Medics pass to score on the right.
The students did keep going and prop Tom Butler claimed a fourth try for them in injury-time.
The match was well refereed by Gail Randall, who became the first female to take charge of a Plymouth Combination cup final.
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