DEVONPORT Services narrowly came out on the wrong side of a 14-try thriller away to Loughborough Students on Saturday in National Two West.
Both sides scored seven tries apiece, but Loughborough narrowly won 49-45 after their goalkicker Ben Taylor kicked all their conversions.
Services did pick up two losing bonus points, but with third-from-bottom Macclesfield also collecting two away at Taunton, Devonport know their one-season spell in National League rugby is coming to an end.
The only way they could survive now is if they pick up three bonus points wins and Macclesfield fail to pick up a single point from their remaining three games. If that did happen, then Services could overtake them on number of wins, but the odds of that happening are incredibly slim.
However, Services goal now is to move off the foot of the standings before the end of the season.
They are only four points behind Bournville, who still have to visit the Rectory on the final day.
“The target now is not to finish bottom,” said Devonport head coach Ben Russell.
“We should have won a few more games, but we have proved that we are capable of being competitive in this league.
“This was just another one of those games that we should have won.”
Russell admitted Saturday’s contest was a mad game.
“It was like tag rugby – you score, we score, you score, we score,” he said.
“We played really well. I don’t think anyone really wanted to defend, although it was more a case of both teams attacking really well.
“We were 28-26 down at half-time. Second half we had a patch when we could have scored, but didn’t and they scored two quick tries, but then we scored two ourselves.”
Services got it back to 42-20 but they tried a chip and chase from their own half, which did not work out and Loughborough scored to crucially go two scores up with time running out.
Devonport did score with 30 seconds to go and felt they should have got a penalty after attacking from the restart. However, they did not get one and were pushed into touch.
“It summed up our season really,” said Russell. “We have done really well, but just errors have cost us massively.
“We did score some lovely tries. We both scored seven tries but their kicker was unreal and didn’t miss anything.
“A draw would probably have been a fair result to be honest.
“Their ones have just won the Super Bucs and their players are all on proper programmes and do two or three gym sessions a week and have a proper pre-season, so what our lads did was fantastic.”
The first half was pretty tit-for-tat. Charlie Groves opened the scoring for Services with a try, which Richard West converted.
The home side hit back with a try and conversion from Ben Taylor.
Groves then scored a second, which was unconverted, before Tom Rowe responded with a converted one for Loughborough.
Services again went back in front with a touch-down from hooker Aiden Taylor, but the students then did score twice in three minutes courtesy of Ollie Thraves and Louis Nancekivell to go 28-19 ahead.
However, Devonport closed that gap to just two points before half-time with a converted try by Bertie Fordham.
The scoring dried up somewhat at the start of the second half, but a yellow card to Services’ Andy Pond in the 54th minute resulted in Loughborough scoring two tries through Nancekivell and Darragh Walsh.
But then Loughborough went down to 14 men after Thraves were yellow carded and Services scored twice courtesy of Ollie Symons and Sam Bennett to make it a two-point game again.
Loughborough, though, scored a crucial try in the 77th minute courtesy of Rowe to put them two scores up.
Yet, Devonport set up a thrilling ending when Tom Davies score in the final minute.
There was still time for one more play, but the visitors were unable to snatch a winner.
REGIONAL ONE SOUTH WEST
IVYBRIDGE’S 10-year spell at level five came to an end on Saturday when they were beaten 33-16 away at Lydney.
The Bridgers had known for a couple of months that they were likely to finish bottom, but it was officially confirmed at the weekend.
Skills coach Steve Atkinson, who has been leading the coaching after the departure of head coach Davy McGregor in February, said: “I said the to the lads afterwards, I’ve been at the club a long time and was a senior player for like 10 or 12 years and I have been relegated, but you can’t let it define you. We have such a young side, and they are so talented with a ball in their hands.”
On Saturday’s match, Atkinson added: “I don’t think the scoreline reflected the game, certainly the middle part.
“The first 10 minutes they (Lydney) were pretty good, but we hadn’t really shaken the bus journey off.
“But we managed to settle and it was close at half-time.
“We got a couple of tries in the second half and in that middle half of the game I thought we were going to do it, but we had two lads go off injured and at this level with just three subs you are always then going to struggle.”
Lydney, who had beaten Ivybridge 65-5 at Cross-in-Hand in December, had gone 14-0 up with two early tries.
But Ivybridge did find their feet and two Matt Grieveson penalties closed the gap to 14-6 at the break.
Lydney did increase their lead at the start of the second period, but the visitors came back with tries in the corners through Giles Clarke and Charlie Teague.
Ivybridge knew they needed a bonus point win to have any hope of staying up and tried everything the could to get the extra tries they needed, but after picking up a couple of injuries, they lost some momentum and Lydney scored with the final play.
“The lads did everything we asked of them and I can’t fault their efforts,” said Atkinson.
COUNTIES ONE WESTERN WEST
PLYMSTOCK Oaks came agonisingly close to upsetting Paignton’s hopes of sneaking the Western West title.
Second-placed Paignton had to win at Queen’s Park on Saturday to take the title contest to the final week of the season.
But with less than 10 minutes to go, fourth-placed Oaks were leading 31-26.
However, Paignton dug deep and second-row Martin Bird crashed over under the posts late on for an easy conversion for Brad McKee to secure a 33-31 victory for the home side.
Pirates Amateur still top the lead after they were handed a walkover by Tavistock. They are three points ahead of Paignton going into the final weekend on April 5.
The Pirates have to play third-placed Barnstaple II, while Paignton visit bottom side Bideford.
Whatever happens at the top, Oaks, who host Tavistock in their final match, know they will finish fourth.
They did take the lead on Saturday at Paignton with a penalty from Lewie Riley.
But the home side hit back with two tries in the space of six minutes courtesy of scrum-half Dewald Stoop.
Kieran Jamieson pulled one back for Oaks to make it 14-10, but Paignton went in at the break 19-10 ahead after flanker Jack Linley-Shaw touched down for an unconverted try.
The home team increased their lead to 26-10 after the interval with a try by prop Alex Pozniak, but then suddenly Oaks came to life and really put Paignton under pressure.
Matt Jackson pulled a try back for Plymstock before Paignton picked up three yellow cards within the space of four minutes.
Oaks took advantage of that to go in front with a penalty try and then a converted touch-down from Duncan Bibby.
But when Paignton returned to 15 players, they threw everything at Oaks and eventually their efforts paid off with Bird’s try.
COUNTIES TWO CORNWALL
SALTASH are just one game away from finishing with a 100 per cent playing record in Counties Two Cornwall after they beat Wadebridge Camels 92-14 away.
The Ashes, who were crowned champions last month, were initially a little ring-rusty on Saturday, but soon settled into their stride.
The Camels did actually give a good physical account of themselves and were on top at various stages in the game.
That said, Saltash’s backs got going and were over early on for a try for full-back Ryan Cruickshanks, which was converted by scrum Half Jack Pritchard.
The Camels responded almost immediately with a try of their own to level the score.
That try for the home side seemed to poke the bear as the Ashes went on the rampage with a catch-and-drive touch-down for flanker Lewis Wells, converted by Pritchard, followed by tries for centre Greg Eatwell, skipper James Moriarty, veteran lock Tom Rixson and hooker Rob Walsh.
Wells then grabbed his second and fresh out of the bin, prop Simon Nance, went over as did number eight Ryan Rayner to make it 57-7 at the break.
The second half was more of the same with Saltash opening the scoring through Cruickshanks.
Further scores followed from Snook, who shone throughout, Rayner, flanker Phil Eatwell and hooker Walsh also capped a fine performance to run in from his own 10 metre line.
Pritchard finished the day with 11 conversions.
The Camels did manage a consolation score late on for their efforts against a strong Saltash team.
COUNTIES TWO DEVON
DEVONPORT Services II’s hopes of finishing second in Counties Two Devon suffered a blow when they were beaten 34-31 by Exeter Saracens, who kicked a match-winning penalty eight minutes into injury-time.
Services II had been 31-17 up in the second half, but fourth-placed Exeter hit back with two converted tries and then their last-gasp penalty.
It means Services II have to beat Honiton away in their final match to take runners-up spot.
Services II made the trip to Exeter without any recognised second-rows due to injuries and unavailabilities. Charlie Newcombe came in for his debut, while there was a first start of the season for Connor Yeoman.
There was also a debut for colt Ewan Piercy at full-back, while fellow colt Olly Mytton also came in for only his second league appearance.
But despite all their changes, it did look like they were going to pick up five points with Jack Jones, Sam Fincham, Mytton, Newcombe and young scrum-half Rohan Johnson scoring tries and Leighton Stark kicking the rest of their points.
However, the makeshift visiting side suffered heartbreak at the end.
At the other end of the table, already-relegated Plymouth Argaum felt there were plenty of positives from their 47-17 home defeat to third-placed Honiton.
Hooker Tom Mann scored two tries for Argaum, who had the returning Luke McCreath converting both of them and adding a penalty.
“It was a positive afternoon,” said Argaum head coach Dean Avery. “Honiton are a good side, but that was probably one of the best teams we have put out all season.
“Obviously, we didn’t really click as a team, but there were a lot of good individual performances.
“The wind was quite strong and when we kicked it long, Ollie Rice caused us an awful lot of problems by running it back at us.”
He added: “We are relegated, but I hope it might benefit us as a club.”
Ollie Rice scored two tries for Honiton, with Danie Jenkins, Laird Crevald, Jonny House and Ben Spence adding their others.
Tamar Saracens are in danger of going down to Counties Three with Argaum after they were unable to shock unbeaten league champions Torquay Athletic.
Sarries did give a good account of themselves in a 53-7 home defeat, but their hopes of getting out of the bottom three are now slim.
Second-from-bottom Exmouth II have also joined them on 31 points after they beat Topsham II.
The first half at the Parkway was tight and Torquay were only 22-7 ahead, but the visitors showed why they have runaway with the league in the second period when Sarries tired.
“At half-time, I said ‘you are in the game boys’,” said Saracens director of rugby Pete Lethbridge.
“We did do a lot of defending, to be fair, and I think in the last 20 we ran out of steam a little bit and they ran in a couple more tries.
“But I can’t fault the lads. We started off a bit slowly with the scrummaging, but it came good in the end. Line-outs were a bit hit-and-miss as we did not have Adam Corbett, but the backs played as well as they could.
“Defence wise, they really put their bodies on the line and they worked really hard. I said to them afterwards that they should be proud as not many teams get a result like that against them.
“Torquay are a class team. They are very good and they deserve to go up. Dan (Williams) has done a really good job there.”
Jacob Blasdale did score a great try for Sarries from the 10m line in the first half, which Rob Hall converted.
OPMs are guaranteed to finish in the top eight for a second season running after they beat Withycombe 36-12 at King George V Playing Fields on Saturday.
It was OPMs’ third successive win over Withycombe.
Saturday’s game was quite tight in the first half, with the Old Boys edging it 19-12.
Kal Malone and Tom Rayner scored touch-downs for the home side to go with a penalty try, while player-coach Adam Clayton and Dan Seals scored for Withycombe.
But OPMs pulled away in the second half with two Fred Smale tries and two conversions and a penalty from his brother Matt.
COUNTIES THREE
IVYBRIDGE II have one hand on the Counties Three Devon South & West trophy after they beat title-rivals Old Techs 70-13 at Cross-in-Hand on Saturday.
There was little between the teams in the first half and Techs had probably more territory and possession in the opening 40 minutes.
But Ivybridge were able to bring on the likes of Adam Northcott, Marcus Prout, Jack Mitchell and Harrison Legge off the bench and they took total control in the second half.
Techs, who were missing the likes of Billy Evans, Dan Pullen, Conor McQueen, Steve Wilkinson and Nathan Webb, were not helped by picking up two yellow cards in quick succession in the second half and Ivybridge made them pay.
The Bridgers’ second team now just have to beat Plympton Victoria in their final match to be crown champions.
However, some of the gloss of their crucial win on Saturday in front of a big crowd at Cross-in-Hand was taken off by a couple of incidents during the match, which the club will have to investigate.
In the first half, there was an alleged racist remark made to Techs’ veteran winger Kieran Hurrell from a spectator on the clubhouse side, which was heard by a number of players, and which reportedly was also picked up on the video live stream of the game.
Then in the second half, the club’s photographer ran on to the field of play while the game was in action to get involved in a fight, which caused an unwanted scene.
Ivybridge did score while that was happening, but the referee did not see the incident as he was following the ball and so awarded the try and actually penalised Techs for pushing the photographer away.
Neither of those incidents had anything to do with Ivybridge’s players and they will be frustrated that they have somewhat overshadowed their impressive win.
The Bridgers were actually second best for much of the first half as Techs came out fired up, knowing they had to win to have any hope of winning the title.
Josh O’Hare was held up over the line in the ninth minute before lock Ollie Davey did open the scoring seconds later when he used his pace to break from 25 metres out and then had the strength to hold off a tackle and score under the posts.
Sammie Matts kicked the conversion, but he then missed two penalty attempts that could have moved Techs further clear.
In the 25th minute, Ivybridge, with Seb Musgrave and Hamish Harris in their pack, got their first points on the board when Luke Martell kicked a penalty.
They then scored a try straight from the restart courtesy of Matt Gilbury after Musgrave had done well.
Techs, playing their first league game on an artificial pitch, continued to have good possession but they wasted a couple of penalties in dangerous areas and in the 40th minute Ivybridge scored a second try when they pushed the visitors off a scrum and Lewis Cook touched down. That made it 15-7.
Matts reduced the gap with a penalty in first-half injury time, but straight from the restart Dan Skeemer scored and Martell added the conversion to make it 22-10 at the break.
The half-time scoreline was harsh on Techs, but the second half was pretty much one-way traffic as Ivybridge really upped their game.
Scrum-half Ryan Cox scored straight from kick-off to secure Ivybridge the all-important bonus point.
Matts kicked a penalty to make it 29-13, but after that it was all the home side.
Gilbury added a second on 45 minutes, before Hamish Harris scored in the left corner while the fight involving the photographer was going on at the other side of the field.
Skeemer then added another in the corner, before Techs were reduced to 14 men after picking up a yellow card.
Home hooker Harry West then scored from a catch-and-drive move before Techs went down to 13 men after Davey was yellow carded.
Home replacement Legge enjoyed the extra space and he scored two quick tries before scrum-half Cox added another.
In the dying seconds, both teams picked up a yellow card, with Prout going off for Ivybridge and Neil Harmse for Techs.
Afterwards Ivybridge’s Steve Atkinson, although disappointed their first team had been relegated, said: “The twos result was fantastic for us. It is in our hands now. We just need five points from our final match.”
It was Techs’ final league game and they will finish third behind Ivybridge II and Brixham II.
Techs’ coach Shaun Bedford-Smith, who was named on the bench due to injuries and unavailabilities, said: “In the first 30 minutes we certainly nullified them, which is what we wanted to do.
“We said to go out and start well as we can’t allow them to play, which they did in the second half.
“I think we got disrupted a little bit in the second half, there were a few yellow cards and the guy running on, which detracted from the rugby a bit.
“But I spoke to our guys afterwards and said I was proud of them. If we had said at the start of the season that we would be in the mix to get promoted right up to the final game of the season, they would have snapped my hand off.
“I just said this result hasn’t gone our way and in the second half we let them play, but that’s what can happen when they have that much quality in there and that amount of people with experience. They did have a good bench to bring on, whereas I was on our bench as that was the only 20 we had this week.
“But I can’t take anything away from Ivybridge. It is all about strength in depth and the last two or three weeks we have suffered a bit with injuries, but that’s not an excuse.
“I think our players are disappointed, but I have told them that they should be proud of how they have played this season.”
There was disappointment for Plympton Victoria who narrowly lost 24-21 away to Kingsbridge II.
Plym Vic had to play nearly 70 minutes with 14 players after picking up what they felt was a harsh red card early on. They were also left to rue some missed kicks.
“We left 12 points on the park,” said club chairman Chris Hunt, who started the game. “We had three missed conversions, but they were out wide, and two penalties.
“Also what didn’t help us was picking up a red card after about 10 minutes and then a yellow card shortly after that.
“But the lads did really, really well. It was some of the best rugby I have seen us play.
“If it wasn’t for the cards and if we could have dotted our tries down just a little bit nearer the posts that could have made a difference.
“The lads really dug deep and stuck to their job, but we just rue the points we left out there.”
Andy Hodge scored two tries for Plym Vic, with Ethan Pringle also touching down. Chris Barrett kicked their other points courtesy of two penalties.
In the same division, Plymstock Oaks II were beaten 62-12 away at Paignton.
Oaks, who had a few drop-outs before the game and who suffered an injury to Josh Breed, had to play with 14 men for about 50 minutes.
In the first half Andy Porter scored when he took a quick tap penalty as Oaks II trailed 30-5.
In the second period when playing with 14, there were some strong runs by Nathan Akers, James Barnett and Porter.
They did get a second try when Porter kicked the ball forward for Ross Perkins to get hold onto the ball and score a converted try.
Porter said afterward:” It was the last game of the season and the seconds gave a spirited performance and finished the season on a high.
“Onwards to next season where we will grow stronger and now it’s all about supporting the club to achieve in the remaining fixtures for the firsts.”
In Counties Two Cornwall, Saltash II continued their good form with a 59-5 home win over Roseland in their final home match of the season.
There were tries for Ethan Stone (2), Steve Hillman (2), Axel Nicks, Devon Bennett-Murray, Charlie Knight and Alfie Libby, while Ben Law kicked seven conversions.
Pictures are low resolution and are protected by copyright so should not be used without permission.