THERE will be no shortage of Plymouth Combination derbies in Counties Two Devon this season after Tamar Saracens joined Devonport Services II, Plymouth Argaum and OPMs in the league.
There is even one on the opening day as Plymouth Argaum host old rivals OPMs at Bickleigh Down.
Both sides survived last season after coming into the league, with OPMs eighth and Argaum 10th, and both are keen to push on this term.
“We can’t go in this season with the attitude of just trying to stay in the league as that’s not what people want,” said Argaum head coach Dean Avery.
“People play rugby on a Saturday to win so to say the target is just to stay in the league and win six or seven games out of 22, is not what anyone is playing rugby for on a Saturday.
“We will be looking at pushing up and with the signings that we have had there is no reason why we can’t push for middle to top end of the table and that’s what are objective will be.
“It is really important that you get some early wins and have some good availability particularly for the early home games.”
Luke Thompson, James Lovering, Archie Ashworth, Sam Faulkner, Ryan Neagle, Bryan Milford and Spencer Pieterse are among Argaum’s new signings
“Everyone is really keen to play and there will be some tough choices for Eddie McGinley, myself, Al (Sullivan) and Jack (Hiscock),” said Avery.
“We have got OPMs in the first game of the season. I think we played each other at the end of last year and I think both teams were struggling for numbers. Hopefully, it will be a different story for us this time around.”
OPMs have kept the bulk of last season’s squad, although Sam Matts has moved on to Old Techs. They have also brought in new faces with the arrival of Chris Jewell, Tom Sunderland, Tom Hughes and Chris Marriott.
The Old Boys were well beaten by an Ivybridge XV and Saltash in pre-season, but they were not worried by those defeats as they were missing lots of players and were trying out different systems.
“Pre-season, scoreline wise, wasn’t ideal, but for what we wanted to do in those games it has been pretty successful,” said OPMs captain Billy Garratt.
“Our game-plan and systems of play have massively changed this year – we are trying something brand new and that’s why our pre-season fixtures were tough ones.
“The coaches purposely picked difficult teams to see how our structure and game-plan would work.”
“We are definitely looking forward to the start of the season.
“There was a good 28-30 players training on Tuesday and probably more than that on Thursday so there’s a lot of competition for a shirt on Saturday.
“It’s always a good fixture against Argaum. It should be an interesting game.”
He added: “We haven’t really set any targets. We are just going to go into each game and take it how it comes.
“I think just like last season, it will be the second half of the campaign that tells.”
OPMs will start their season with three derby games in a row as after taking on Argaum away, they will host Services II before visiting Tamar Saracens.
Sarries received an unexpected promotion after finishing as runners-up in Counties Three Devon South & West for a second season running.
With no team coming down into the league from Western West, there was a spare place, which was offered to Saracens.
And the Ernesettle-based club were more than happy to make the leap to the division above and are looking forward to the challenge.
“Going up a league is fantastic and it’s a bit of kudos for the club and great for the players,” said head coach Mike Lewis.
“We know there are going to be some really good teams in the league, but also probably some not quite as good teams.
“It is just important we think about how good we are and what we did well last year. I know it is a cliché, but we just have to play our brand of rugby and hope it is good enough.
“It is going to be a step up, but I don’t think it is going to be as big as the boys think.
“However, it is going to be different and so it is going to make them question themselves.
“I think it will be important to try and get a couple of early wins to settle the nerves.
“If we can win more games than we lose this season, we’d be happy.”
He added: “Obviously, the goal is to stay up, but we’ve not really set anything.
“It’s tough to set goals as you don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’d like to finish in the top six. Have we got a good enough side for that? I think we have. Have we got enough depth for that? We might not, but if we keep everyone fit and everyone is available then I think we could be pushing for that.”
Sarries, who have welcomed Harrison Reburn, Joe Rider, Lew Swatton, Dan Clift, Rikki Lennon, Tommy Windeatt and Lloyd Williams-Notley to the club over the summer, will start life at level eight with a home game against Exeter Saracens, who finished fourth last season.
They will then travel to much-fancied Honiton before hosting OPMs.
This weekend they will also get a second team out, who will play Old Techs’ new second string at Weston Mill.
There is an eye-catching opening day clash at the Rectory where Devonport Services II host Honiton.
Both sides are expected to be challenging towards the top of the table, with Services II having finished third last season.
Tom Richards has returned to the Rectory to become Services II’s player-coach.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” said Richards. “I was at Oaks as team manager, but I thought I would come back down here and help the boys out. There is a good feel factor back here and it was like walking back home.”
He added: “Our target going into the first game against Honiton is to try and get out of the traps early.
“If we can get Honiton on a good day then hopefully, we can give them a good go. I do think Honiton will be near the top.”
Richards knows Services II’s chances of success will be dependent on how many injuries the first team pick up in their debut season in the National League, where teams also have five replacements.
“If someone gets injured in the ones then someone will step up and it does hinder us,” said Richards. “But hopefully, the ones won’t pick up too many injuries.
“Yet what is great is if the twos keep performing well then players will be able to slot in and out quite successfully, which is good for the club.”