SALTASH will head into their Counties Two Cornwall campaign in confident mood after ending their pre-season fixtures with a 47-17 win over Devonport Services II at Moorlands Lane on Saturday.
The victory followed on from home successes over Plymstock Oaks and OPMs in their other warm-up contests.
Counties Two Devon hopefuls Services II, who included the experienced Dan Goldstone, Kieran Down, Tyler Busfield and Mike Hunt in their starting line-up, did have the better of the first half as they played down the slope.
The visitors led 17-5 at the break, but the Ashes upped their performance second half to run in six tries – four coming in the final 10 minutes to give the scoreline a rather flatting look.
For 70 minutes there was hardly anything between the teams in a highly-competitive and physical affair that produced plenty of big hits.
But Services II, after making changes, just lost their way in the closing stages.
Devonport II’s new coach Tom Richards, who ended up coming on, said: “It was very competitive for 50 minutes. I was really happy with that and how we competed until then, but you could tell we lost some shape in the last 20 or 30 minutes.
“But you have to give Saltash some credit, they are a good side and they should be in a higher league. Hats off to them; they put two sides out again and it’s good to see they are doing well and hopefully we’ll see them next year.”
Saltash head coach Lewis Wells was happy with the performance and admits some of the club’s new young players have given the club a real selection headache ahead of their opening league game against St Just.
“We were missing a few faces, but it gave us an opportunity to play some of our young lads – a few colts that have come up,” said Wells after Saturday’s win.
“Pre-season has really given us a good opportunity to look at some of the younger faces and we’ve also got a few older faces back, like Andy Knight, who will be a good asset to us.
“The selection has been made quite difficult as there have been some really impressive performances throughout pre-season.”
Hooker Rob Walsh, who had a big game on Saturday, gave Saltash the lead in the opening three minutes with a well-worked try from a line-out move.
But Services II hit back with two impressive tries by centre Toby Lean, the second of which was converted by former Saltash fly-half Down.
And in first half injury-time, Olly Whitfield, who has returned to Services from Oaks, scored in the left corner after Down had taken a quick tap penalty.
However, Saltash do play their slope well, and within seconds of the restart they had pulled a try back when number eight Ryan Rayner went over after Sam Snell put him free. Jack Pritchard added the conversion to close the gap to five points.
Services II defended hard for the next 20 minutes to keep their lead, but eventually Saltash, who really tackled and pressured well to keep the visitors pinned in their half, did get a third try when Greg Eatwell crossed in the corner and Pritchard converted to put his side 19-17 ahead.
With 10 minutes to go, Walsh increased their lead with another try from a line-out move.
It looked like that might be it as time was running out. Pritchard attempted a penalty kick as the clock ran down, but he missed.
However, there was six minutes of injury-time to add on and Snell, Charlie Knight and Max Frost added further tries in the closing moments for the Ashes.
Before Saltash’s first team played Services II, their seconds took on Western West side Tavistock.
It was Tavistock’s only pre-season fixture and they ended up running out 51-17 winners after a strong second half.
Martin Budden, who is now part of the coaching staff at Sandy Park, turned the clock back with a hat-trick of tries for Tavistock, who were not able to get the two teams they wanted out on the day to play Saltash’s firsts and seconds.
“We had planned for two games, but availability has been really sporadic,” said Tavistock head coach Hammy Kerswill.
“This week there was a birthday and something else on, which was a bit of a shame, but fair play to Saltash for getting that game on. It was a competitive and good game.
“It has been a bit of a slow pre-season, but this was what we needed. There was a good atmosphere and some really good performances.”
Tavistock did impress in the scrums and number eight Budden put them ahead in the 14th minute with a try from the back of one.
Callum Baker then added a second try in the 27th minute after a poor clearing kick by Saltash fell perfectly for him to run it back and go over on the right.
And just before half-time, Tavistock got a third try to go 15-0 up when fly-half Soco O’Connor crossed in the corner after Budden had brilliantly turned Saltash over on their line.
Liam Watts increased Tavistock’s lead after the interval before Budden got his second of the day from another scrum.
Steve Hillman pulled one back for Saltash II before Freddie Fuller went over for Tavistock’s fifth.
Nathan Farley scored from close range for the home side, but Tavvy responded with further touch-downs by Solly Hunter and Budden.
Devon Marshall claimed an interception try for the Ashes, but Tavistock vice-captain Fuller finished off the scoring in injury-time.
Old Techs were also in South East Cornwall on Saturday as they visited Liskeard-Looe for their final pre-season fixture.
Counties Two Cornwall side Liskeard were leading 26-7 at one point, but Techs came back and drew 26-26 with player-coach Billy Evans scoring a late try, which Sam Matts converted.
Former Liskeard-Looe player Will Booth had scored Techs first two tries, with Josh O’Hare, playing prop, bagging their third.
“We were not happy with the first half,” said Techs chairman David Evans. “But we rallied, and the boys started believing in themselves.”
Elsewhere on Saturday, Counties Two Devon outfit Plymouth Argaum overcame lower league side Plympton Victoria 52-5 at St Mary’s Field.
“It was nice to get another run-out and another win,” said Argaum head coach Dean Avery, who handed debuts to a number of players, including former Tavistock full-back James Lovering.
“Plym Vic are a fantastic club and it’s always nice to have a fixture with them.
“We went with 26-27 players, so it was nice to have good availability at this time of the year, even with a lot of people on holiday.
“It was nice to have a good runaround with a lot of players and see some of the young boys.”
He added: “Plym Vic gave us a different sort of a game to Old Techs. They did move the ball quite well and they put us under a bit of pressure at scrum-time and upset some of our line-outs as well. But we manage to go through the phases and we looked dangerous.”
Plym Vic chairman Chris Hunt said: “They had about 28 players on their team sheet and so the score was fairly inevitable, to be honest.
“We didn’t have bad numbers, but playing an outfit a league above us who have that amount of players we did struggle.
“We weren’t our own best friends at certain points. There were bits that were okay, like our scrum.
“But it was a learning curve. Like all pre-season games there’s plenty to work on.
“In pre-season it’s always a difficult decision about whether you pick games where you can easily win and not really test yourself or do you pick a tougher opponent where you might not get the result you want, but you are really going to test yourself and have to work and have it as a learning curve?
“Overall, I think we did pretty well, despite the score. It is just about laying the foundations for the season.”
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