DEVONPORT Services suffered their heaviest defeat of the season as they were beaten 70-7 by leaders Camborne at the Rectory on Saturday in National Two West.
Despite what the scoreline suggests, Services did not actually play that badly. They had plenty of territory and possession, but Camborne defended their line stubbornly and then showed an impressive clinical edge in attack.
The Cornish side illustrated just how good their all-round game is with a mixture of set-piece tries, which led to hooker Ben Priddey bagging five touch-downs, and length-of-the-field backs moves.
And for good measure former Cornish Pirates and Gloucester full-back Kyle Moyle also demonstrated he can kick from almost anywhere on the pitch by nailing 10 out of 10 conversions, with most of them coming from out wide.
“We had a lot of territory and possession, but they are one of the better attacking sides in the league and they actually do something different to nearly every other team in the division,” said Services head coach Ben Russell afterwards.
“At the end of the day they were just much better than us. They ran harder and when they created opportunities, they finished them.
“And fair play to their kicker, he was hitting them from all over the place.”
He added: “At the start of the second half we had most of the possession and territory for 15 minutes but then we have allowed them to score a length of the field try.
“We knew they attack from anywhere and it was just a tough day at the office.
“Yeah, you can say we were competitive, but we let them score too easily at times.
“You can’t defend with 11 or 12 people on the pitch because a few others don’t want to make tackles.
“There were a lot of boys there who were brilliant and did really, really well. Shaun Crawford was brilliant, Greg’s (Matt Gregory) was brilliant again, Rikki (Bentham) doesn’t stop working etc, etc, but when you have some who are worried about what’s in front of them then it’s quite hard.
“It’s going to be a hard-working week now.”
The defeat leaves Services 11 points off safety. They face a massive match next Saturday when they visit third-from-bottom Exeter University.
Devonport did go 14-0 down after 16 minutes on Saturday with Priddey bagging two tries from catch-and-drive moves.
The second one came after Services winger Charlie Groves had been yellow carded and the visitors had gone for the corner from the penalty.
But then Services had a really strong 15 minutes and caused Camborne a number of problems.
Prop Bentham reduced the gap with a pick-and-go try from close range after good pressure from a line-out.
Devonport continued to pile on the pressure and Camborne forwards Jordan Rose and Damien Cook both picked up yellow cards within the space of three minutes.
It looked certain that Services would score a second try and pull level, but somehow Camborne kept them out. James McFarlane and Andy Pond both came agonisingly close to scoring and then Devonport were ruled to have been held up over the line in the 30th minute under the posts.
That proved to be a crucial point as when Services ran back the resultant drop-out, former Plymouth Albion winger Alex Ducker intercepted and ran the length of the field to put Camborne 21-7 ahead.
That was cruel on the home side and it got worse for them with Priddey adding two more tries late in the half to put his team rather flatteringly 35-7 ahead.
Devonport appeared to have shrugged off that double blow at the end of the first half and came out fired up for the second period.
They dominated the opening 15 minutes of play and came close to scoring on a couple of occasions, only for Camborne to stop them.
And in the final 20 minutes of the game, the visitors ran away with it.
Their first try of the second half came in the 59th minute and it was an impressive one from a scrum deep in their own half. Ducker made the initial break down the left before they switch play to the right and Moyle put in a clever kick for Harry Larkins to score.
Four minutes later Priddey bagged his fifth from another catch-and-drive move before Camborne scored one of the tries of the season from the restart. Former Fijian international Josh Matavesi gathered the ball and ran hard from his own 22 before producing an incredible off-load to flanker Jordan Nicholls, who in turn brilliantly fed Ducker to run in for his second of the afternoon.
Ducker was then yellow carded five minutes later, while Tyler Busfield, a late inclusion in Services’ first team squad after hooker Aiden Taylor had to drop out, was also sin-binned for the home side.
Services did keep looking for another try and came close, but Camborne finished strongly with scrum-half CJ Boyce scoring after taking a quick-tap penalty and debutant fly-half Sam Walker touched down after Devonport had lost the ball in their own 22.
REGIONAL ONE SOUTH WEST
IVYBRIDGE find themselves 12 points away from safety after they were beaten 44-31 in a try-fest away at Sidmouth on Saturday.
The Bridgers paid for a slow start and found themselves 13-0 down after five minutes.
But they rallied and did end up picking up a try-scoring bonus point and head coach Davy McGregor felt there were a lot more positives than in recent weeks.
“It was much better from us,” said McGregor afterwards. “It was a much better reaction. We actually went and tried to win a game and scoring five tries was a real positive.
“The boys really put their bodies on the line. There was a different sort of attitude this week, which was brilliant.
“But we just killed ourselves by going behind. And there were a couple of decisions at crucial parts of the game where maybe a bit more experience would have made the difference.
“However, at the end of the day, it is the first time we have scored over 30 points for a long time, so we have to take that as a positive.
“There was a lot more intent from the boys on what we have been working on. They really bought into it and it gave us a bit of a platform.”
After going 13-0 down, winger Erdem Mumcu, making only his second appearance for Ivybridge, scored a converted try after good play from a scrum.
He then bagged a second when he pounced on a loose ball and ran half the length of the field after Sidmouth had tried to take a quick line-out.
That put Ivybridge one point ahead and they increased that to 19-13 with a try by Giles Clarke after Will Peakman had made a good run through the middle.
But Sidmouth scored two late scores before the break to put them 25-19 up at half-time.
After the interval the home side, with former Exeter Chiefs player Phil Dollman dictating play at fly-half, went 44-19 in front before Ivybridge finished strongly.
Peakman scored Ivybridge’s fourth try before Tom Hancocks then added a fifth after Elliot Harwood had done well.
COUNTIES ONE WESTERN WEST
PLYMSTOCK Oaks returned to winning ways with a comfortable 42-17 home victory over bottom side Bideford on Saturday.
The five-point success has lifted Oaks back up to second place, with Pirates Amateurs slipping up at Wiveliscombe.
After back-to-back losses against Paignton and Kingsbridge, Oaks head coach Lewis Paterson was pleased with the five points against Bideford.
“They were a better team than when we played them up at their place,” said Paterson. “They played some young lads and they were very good.
“I think probably the best way to describe our performance is that we didn’t get out of gear. I just think we were a bit flat, although we did well and got a good result after two losses and with us missing a few backs.
“It was just good to bounce back.
“Bideford had quite a good pack and line-out, but we just ran away with it towards the end.”
Oaks took an early lead with a try by winger Duncan Bibby, which Lew Riley converted.
Bideford did respond with a try in the 26th minute but Pete Keanie replied quickly with another converted try for Oaks to put them 14-5 ahead.
They increased that to 21-5 eight minutes into the second half before Joe Donnelly picked up a yellow card for the home team and Bideford took advantage to score a second try.
But Oaks finished strongly and backs Paterson, Bibby and Will Scantlebury scored in the final 22 minutes, with Bideford only scoring one more in reply.
Tavistock’s difficult season continued on Saturday as they were beaten 69-0 at home by Barnstaple II.
The result followed on from a 94-12 loss at leaders Paignton in their last game and they remain second-from-bottom.
Barnstaple II, who had beaten Tavistock 74-7 at their place in September, ran in 11 tries at Sandy Park.
Six of their touchdowns came in the first half, with Ross Swales and Harvey Rostock both bagging two and Brendon Darley and Ryan Lee also going over the whitewash.
Swales completed his hat-trick in the second half, with Callum Morgan adding two and Dylan Kingdon and Liam Ducker also touching down.
Tavistock now have to pick themselves up for a trip to bottom side Bideford next Saturday.
COUNTIES TWO CORNWALL
RYAN RAYNER celebrated his 300th appearance for Saltash with a brace of tries in their 14-try demolition of a weakened Bodmin side away on Saturday.
The Ashes ran out 94-3 winners to end 2024 on a big high.
Bodmin tried their best but could not contain Saltash’s flowing style of rugby.
Tom Rixson opened the scoring after just four minutes for the visitors with a well-worked try, which Jack Pritchard converted. That was the first of 12 successful conversions for the scrum-half.
More pressure from the Ashes resulted in flanker Lewis Wells touching down three minutes later.
A rare excursion by Bodmin into Saltash’s half enabled their fly-half to kick a penalty but the visitors had the try-scoring bonus point in the bag after 23 minutes with Ryan Cruickshanks and Freddy Dover, making his first league start, going over the whitewash.
Freddy Dover, who had a good game at lock, crossed the line again in the 25th minute and before the interval, Rayner got his two tries to make the score at the break 49-3.
The second period was a repetition of the first half with Will Morton leading the charge with four tries as Saltash continued to dominate.
A try on the left wing on 70 minutes by Lewis Stuart took the score to 80-3.
The scoring was completed with Cruickshanks and Morton getting converted tries.
The win means Saltash will go into 2025 sitting top of the table, with a maximum 60 points from their 12 opening games.
COUNTIES TWO DEVON
DEVONPORT Services II and OPMs will have to replay their match on Saturday after it had to be abandoned in the 57th minute due to an injury to the referee.
The sides were level at 12-12 and OPMs appeared to be just about to score from a driving maul when players broke off and collided with the referee, who twisted his knee badly.
OPMs had taken the lead in the 11th minute with a penalty by Matt Smale, who had missed one five minutes earlier.
But second-placed Services II hit back quickly with a Al Thomas scoring a converted try from their first real attack.
Ten minutes later, winger Jack Rider went over in the right corner after good play from Tom Richards and Dan Goldstone from a scrum to make it 12-3.
However, Matt Smale kicked another penalty in the 27th minute to reduce the gap to 12-6 at half-time
And then he kicked two more penalties early in the second half to level the scores before the unfortunate end to the game.
OPMs were frustrated as they felt they could have won the game after dominating large parts of the fixture at Stonehouse Creek.
“I can’t begin to start with how positive it was for us,” said OPMs team manager Shaun Grundy.
“For us it is probably one of those games that had we come away with a final result it would have been a real step change for us and we would have really been taking the positives into the rest of the season. But I don’t want the lads coming away thinking that it wasn’t positive just because there wasn’t a final result.
“There were a huge amount of positive for us to take away.”
Tamar Saracens were also frustrated, but for different reasons. They were narrowly edged out 23-17 at home by fourth-placed Honiton.
“We should have won really,” said director of rugby Pete Lethbridge
“It was frustrating. Yeah, we got a losing bonus point, but we felt we should have won the game.
“It’s frustrating as we are nearly there, but it’s just not happening for us.”
He added: “We were missing a few players, but overall it was a decent performance from the lads. They fought to the end, but some of the decisions from the ref were disappointing – and it wasn’t just for us; it was for both sides.”
Sarries were particularly unhappy with Honiton’s second try, which came when they were 16-10 up and just took the match away from the hosts.
Honiton had led 7-3 at half-time, with Rob Hall kicking Saracens’ only points in the opening 40 minutes.
After the interval, Honiton got three quick penalties which they kicked to go 16-3 in front.
But Sarries hit back with a converted try by Adam Corbett.
However, Honiton scored a try, which Sarries thought should not have been awarded, but they did at least secure a bonus point with a converted try by Robbie Fowler.
“The boys did show a lot of character,” added Lethbridge.
Plymouth Argaum’s hopes of staying up took a massive hit as they were forced to hand Withycombe a walkover and lose five points.
Argaum have now dropped to the foot of the table and are four points behind second-from-bottom South Molton and eight behind 10th-placed Exmouth II.
“We just had too many people away,” said Argaum head coach Dean Avery. “But hopefully we can re-group this week.”
COUNTIES THREE
IVYBRIDGE II moved to the top of Devon South & West after they convincingly beat fourth-placed Salcombe 47-10 at Cross-in-Hand on Saturday.
Salcombe had put themselves in the title running after going on a six-game winning run that included a victory over previous leaders Brixham II.
But Ivybridge II, known as the Vandals, made sure they were on top of their game to see them off at the weekend.
The home side led 26-3 at half-time and did not let up in the second period.
The hosts scored seven tries courtesy of Ben Winters, Ryan Cox, Harry West, Reggie Fulla, Seb Musgrave, Josh Measor and Hayden Coles, who also kicked five conversions.
Second-placed Old Techs are level on points with Ivybridge II after they were handed a walkover by Plympton Victoria on Saturday.
Since returning to league rugby, Plym Vic have always managed to play a fixture of some sort, but they had to admit defeat this weekend.
“It is the first time we have really struggled,” said chairman Chris Hunt. “It just shows you that no matter how well you are doing or how many players you have, you can still have weeks where you still struggle. It was just one of those weeks.”
Plymstock Oaks II were also unable to raise a side to play OPM Jesters in the Ellis Trophy.
In Counties Three Cornwall, Saltash II were beaten 53-15 at home by third-placed St Agnes.
Despite the defeat, Saltash II have moved up to fourth as Camborne School of Mines handed Launceston II a walkover.
There were three walkovers in that division on Saturday as sides around the region struggled with player availability ahead of Christmas.
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