DEVONPORT Services face one of their toughest tests of the season on Saturday when they visit title-chasing Clifton in National Two West.
Services are rooted to the foot of the table and are 16 points from safety, whereas Clifton are battling it out with Camborne at the top of the standings.
Camborne did beat the Bristol side 31-24 in Cornwall last weekend, which ended an 11-game winning run for Clifton.
Services head coach Ben Russell knows their opponents this week will be keen to bounce back, but Devonport would love to try and cause a shock.
“It is a tough one, but they are all tough,” he said. “They are a very good side with some very good players.
“They went on a massive unbeaten run. I think last week was the first game they had lost in a long while, but they did get two bonus points.
“And that game they played last week was rearranged from before Christmas, so even though they lost to Camborne they still have to play them at home.
“I think it is between them and Camborne to win the league.”
Services are without Royal Navy backs Henry Gliddon and Jack Ryder, but they do have Dan Goldstone and Billy Orchard available again.
Flanker James Hocking is also still out – and could be so for a while – but Joe Stansfield is back in the mix.
Long-term injury victims Mark Friend and Matt Neyle, who have missed the whole season, are both close to comebacks.
Forward Friend could possibly feature on the bench for Services’ second team who have a rearranged Counties Two Devon game against OPMs at the Rectory on Saturday.
The original match on December 14 had to be abandoned on 57 minutes when the sides were level at 12-12 due to an injury to the referee.
Both sides are in better form than back in December, with both teams on three-match winning runs.
OPMs have beaten Topsham II (44-24), Withycombe (10-7) and Dartmouth (12-7) in the last few weeks, while Services have run in big scores against South Molton (74-24), Exmouth II (63-24) and Tamar Saracens (55-5).
An OPMs spokesperson said: “The boys are brimming with confidence after three good wins on the bounce but know that this will be a very stern test.”
CUP RUGBY
IVYBRIDGE have a chance to put their league struggles to one side this weekend as they visit lower league Okehampton in the semi-finals of the Devon Senior Shield.
Both clubs failed to field teams in their Senior Cup fixtures earlier in the season and so dropped into the lower competition, but they both now have the chance to reach a final
“Maybe there is an opportunity for some positivity,” said Ivybridge head coach Davy McGregor, whose side sit bottom of Regional One South West.
“I’m a firm believer that if you are in these things, then you should try and win them.
“But for us it is also about trying to box smart with what we can field.”
Ivybridge picked up a lot of injuries last weekend with tough games against Chew Valley and Brixham II.
However, they have named quite a strong team to play Okehampton, who sit fourth in Regional Two South West after they were relegated from level five last season.
Chey Bryce, Reggie Fulla and Ben Hooper come into the front-row, while Will Peakman, Seb Musgrave, Michael Jenson, Tom Hancocks and Adam Northcott make up the rest of the pack.
James Cantin and Matt Grieveson continue at half-back, with Matt Skeemer moving to the backs, where Adam Lilly returns, alongside Dan Skeemer, Charlie Teague and debutant Toby Hosking.
Their bench is made up of players that have recently been playing in the second team – Callum Law, Sam Wilmington, Aaron Joynt and Ben Winters, while there could be a debut for Oli Baughan.
Ivybridge, though, are not able to get a second team out to visit Crediton II in Devon Second XV Shield.
Plymstock Oaks should have been hosting Honiton in the Devon Intermediate Cup semi-finals but they have been handed a walkover by their east Devon opponents.
Oaks will now play either Torquay Athletic or Exeter Saracens in the final.
In the Devon Junior Cup, Plymouth Argaum will host Withycombe at Bickleigh Down (2pm).
In the Plymouth Combination Ellis Trophy, OPM Jesters will host Tamar Saracens II at King George V Playing Fields (2pm), Old Techs will entertain Saltash II at Weston Mill (2pm) and Plympton Victoria will play the Peninsula Medical School at St Marys’s.
It will be the first time in a while that Tamar Saracens have fielded a second team.
“I think it is the first time we have manage to get a second team out since I’ve been here, so that’s a real positive step, said head coach Mike Lewis.
“When we played Devonport Services II that was a league and Lockie Cup double-header so anyone who played in that game can’t play in this one, so it will be a proper second team side. We can’t front load it with players and I don’t think we would anyway as I don’t think that is the right thing to do. We want to organically get a second team together and not force one to play.
“It will be a bit of a mixed team – a few old boys, a few chaps who are coming back into it and some guys who haven’t played too much first team rugby this year.”
Old Techs might be going well in Counties Three Devon South & West, but they are expecting a tricky match against Counties Three Cornwall side Saltash II.
“Their second team is playing every week now in a league, so we are expecting a tough game,” said Techs’ Shaun Bedford-Smith.
“They have a lot of home-grown players and they will have second team players who will have had first team experience. It is certainly a game we can’t take lightly.
“It’s our first game since that narrow loss to Ivybridge II. That was a tough one to swallow, but we need to learn from those type of games.
“I do think that Ivybridge match was really, really positive for us, especially after the Paignton game, where we didn’t really turn up.
“But our performance was there against Ivybridge. We had plenty of opportunities to win that game, but we just could not take them and that’s where we have to learn. We just need to be a bit more clinical.”
Saltash’s first team should have been playing Falmouth in the Cornwall Cup, but their opponents have handed them a walkover.