DEVONPORT Services gave title-chasing Clifton a run for their money on Saturday before going down 42-26 at Station Road.
Bottom side Services did return from Bristol with a try-scoring bonus, but it does not really help their hopes of staying up as they remain 16 points from safety.
However, head coach Ben Russell was really pleased with his side’s performance after a slow start.
“The boys were brilliant,” said Russell.
“We started very slowly and gave away two soft tries, but then we played fantastic.
“We got to within nine points in the second half, but we just gave them a try at the end of the game.
“Clifton are pushing for the title and went to Camborne last week and just lost by seven, but we were very good.
“It’s just patches for us. When we have purple patches and we attack really well we do come away with points, but when we make mistakes, teams do get at us. Four out of five of their tries came from our mistakes.
“But it was brilliant performance; it was just the start that cost us.
“If you take those 14 points we gave away at the start, we would have been in with a chance of winning.”
Clifton, who have only lost once at home this season, started quickly with two converted tries in the opening six minutes courtesy of Marcus Nel and Niall Gibbons.
Services stemmed the flow then, but Gibbons did add another on 24 minutes before he was yellow carded six minutes later.
Devonport took advantage of the extra man with prop Rikki Bentham going over from close range and Richard West adding the conversion.
But Clifton took a 28-5 lead into the break when Freddie Myatt added a fourth converted try for them.
Services came out flying for the second half and James McFarlane scored just four minutes after the interval.
The visitors continued to press and Clifton had Jake Holcombe sent off for foul play.
In the 57th minutes, Jay Evans scored another try for the home side, but then Services had a real purple patch and scored two tries within 10 minutes, both courtesy of hooker Aiden Taylor.
That cut the gap to 35-26 with six minutes of normal time to go and Services were beginning to think they might get at least two points or even more out of the match. However, a late try by Clifton’s Tom Anderson quashed those hopes.
COUNTIES TWO DEVON
DEVONPORT Services II had to dig really deep in the last 15 minutes to see off a motivated OPMs side 39-26 at the Rectory.
The Old Boys, who went into the re-arranged fixture on the back of a three-game winning run, were leading 23-15 with 65 minutes gone.
Services II were struggling to keep hold of the ball, but they managed to score four late tries, including two length-of-the-field efforts, to win the game and move up to second in the table.
It was tough on OPMs, who did not even get a bonus point for their efforts.
“Our boys were disappointed,” said OPMs head coach Andy Williams. “We felt we let one go there.
“It was there for us and another day we might have come away with the win.
“When we got it back to six points with four minutes on the clock, I thought we might be able to hang on, but it was just our mistakes. We spent all week trying to make our game as mistake-less as we could, but unfortunately kick-offs let us down.
“But we did play some lovely rugby and we have done well the last few weeks against Topsham, Withycombe and Dartmouth and I do think we could have made it four wins in a row.”
He added: “They had some strong ball carriers, and we just bounced off tackles. They took their chances and we didn’t.
“In the first half we had a lot of opportunities that we let go, but, fair play to them, they were just more clinical. Having a few players with first team experience – just been in and around that squad – makes a difference.”
Services II coach Tom Richards said: “Credit to OPMs, you can really tell they have worked on a lot of little things and their form really is showing.
“When they get their forwards going forward and with the couple of special players they have in the backs, they do look really good, to be fair.
“Like I said to the lads at the end, we dug ourselves out of a couple of holes. They did keep coming, but I think fitness told in the end.”
Services II did get off to a great start with winger Ben Callard scoring in the opening minutes, but Chris Carpenter pulled a try back for OPMs within four minutes, which Matt Smale converted to put the visitors 7-5 up.
That was extended to 12-5 when winger Tom Rayner went over in the corner for the Old Boys.
Callard scored a second try to pull his side back to within two points before OPMs had Fred Smale yellow carded.
However, OPMs continued to have the advantage and they took an 18-10 lead into the break with two Matt Smale penalties.
Sam Fincham cut the deficit early in the second half with a try for Services II before Fred Smale crossed for OPMs’ third touch-down of the afternoon to make it 23-15.
With 14 minutes to go, Services II, who were able to bring on Mark Friend after a season-long injury, pulled it back to 23-22 with a try from close range by Yianni Costas.
OPMs did have the chance to give themselves a four-point lead, but Matt Smale missed a penalty kick in the 64th minute.
And out of nothing, Services II scored a length-of-the-field effort in the 69th minute that came from a scrum in their own 22. They went down the blindside and the speedy Callard broke a number of tackles. It did look like he was going to go the whole way, but he was just stopped a metre out. However, he was able to recycle and Dan Beer went over in the corner.
And almost straight from the re-start, Toby Moss ran the length of the field to score another try for Services II to make it 32-23.
OPMs responded and were awarded a penalty. Matt Smale kicked it to make it a one-score game with six minutes to go.
But OPMs knocked on the re-start and from the scrum, Services II attacked and Moss scored a second try to seal the game.
CUP ROUND-UP
PLYMOUTH Argaum missed out on reaching the final of the Devon Junior Cup by losing 35-5 to league rivals Withycombe at Bickleigh Down on Saturday.
Bryan Milford scored their only try of the afternoon, with Joe Blythe bagging three for the visitors, who also had Matt Edworthy and Josh Hills touching down.
Argaum were only 14-5 down at half-time, but just ran out of legs in the second half.
“We were quite short,” said Argaum head coach Dean Avery. “We had no Dan Smith, Tom Worboys, Tom Holliday and Darren Ewers, but we were still in the game at half-time.
“They got a few tries just before the end.
“Unfortunately, one of our players, Mike Dutton, went down off a line-out quite awkwardly and it looks like he has badly hurt his ankle, so the referee ended up blowing up five minutes early due to that.
“We were in the game most of the time. It’s a bit of a story of our season – we are having quite a lot of possession but not turning it into points.
“Like against Dartmouth last week, we had a lot of entries into the 22 but didn’t get over the whitewash.”
Ivybridge’s disappointing season continued as they were beaten 38-29 away at Regional Two side Okehampton on Saturday in the semi-finals of the Devon Senior Shield.
Adam Northcott, Adam Lilley and Tom Hancocks scored tries for Ivybridge, who were only 19-17 behind at half-time, however, Okehampton took control of the match after the interval.
Callum Arnold (2), Pat Nash, Richard Friend, Leon Horn and Sammy Luxton scored tries for Okehampton.
It was not a good day for Ivybridge, as their hopes of avoiding relegation from Regional One South West were hit by third-from-bottom Marlborough beating Launceston on Saturday. It means, Ivybridge are now 14 points away from safety with just five games to go.
In the Plymouth Combination Ellis Trophy, Tamar Saracens II and the Peninsula Medical School both progressed, while the match between Old Techs and Saltash II had to be abandoned after just 15 minutes due to a neck injury to visiting prop Mitch Mitchell. Mitchell was taken to hospital but has been released and is recovering at home.
Tamar Saracens edged out OPM Jesters 13-10 thanks to a late penalty by Tom Rigby.
That game also ended early due to an injury to OPMs’ former Sarries player Steve Moran.
Lewis Edwards-Barker and Gareth Morgan scored tries for Tamar Saracens II.
“There was some good play from our guys considering they haven’t really played together,” said Saracens’ Pete Lethbridge.
“It was a good, contested game, but we scraped through in the end.”
The Medics, meanwhile, came from 13-10 down at half-time to beat Plympton Victoria 60-20 at St Mary’s Field.
“We were soundly beaten,” said Plym Vic chairman Chris Hunt. “Second half we kicked off and we just couldn’t get possession back.
“They just kept running; they were a typical student type of side.
“We were just a little out-classed with the speed of turnaround and speed of play that they had. We just couldn’t keep up. We couldn’t get the ball off them. They marshalled possession really well in the second half.
“As you would expect, our scrum was okay against a lighter student side.
“The silver lining is we now drop into the Pedrick Cup.”
Jordan Blair and Sid Bear scored tries for Plym Vic, with Chris Barrett kicking two penalties and a conversion and Conor Archer also added a conversion ahead of a trip to Australia.
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