OPMs and Old Techs both showed glimpses of their potential in a pre-season friendly at King George V Playing Fields on Saturday.
Counties Two Devon side OPMs won the warm-up game 43-21, but they were given a scare by their lower league visitors, who stormed into a 21-5 lead after the opening 20 minutes.
But OPMs came back with a couple of well-worked tries from set-pieces and some created from clever kicking and counterattacking.
Both clubs were happy with the run-out and felt they had upped their level of performance from the previous week where OPMs had lost away at Newquay Hornets and Techs had gone down at home to Liskeard-Looe.
“After the first 20 minutes, I was saying that was 90 per cent better than last week,” said Old Techs’ Shaun Bedford-Smith.
“Even the whole game was a massive improvement from last week, which is what pre-season is about.
“I know you want to win, but even the referee said that he thought the scoreline flattered them a little bit.
“They (OPMs) are a well-established club with two senior teams and a youth section. They are a mid-table team in the league above us, who are probably striving for the top four next year, but we gave them a fright in the first 20. I think fitness probably told a bit for them in the end.
“They probably had a lot missing, as did we, so you just take pre-season for what it is.
“But I just think for us, that was a massive plus. If we can get fitter and get some other lads back, I think that first 20 minutes showed what we can do. I have come away from that pretty happy.”
OPMs new head coach James Digweed said: “In the first half we were missing a lot of tackles and our defence was pretty poor.
“Our structure was pretty good, but we only got one chance. However, from that one chance, we scored.
“Our focus after the first quarter was not to worry about our structure, as that was already there, but to focus on our ‘D’. And we did really step it up with our ‘D’.”
OPMs also showed some good attacking play.
“We have worked really hard in pre-season and put in a lot of hours, and the boys are really committed, and it came together pretty nicely,” said Digweed.
Techs took the lead in the third minute when returning hooker Rudi Baker scored from a line-out move and Sam Matts added the tough conversion.
OPMs levelled seven minutes later with a try from winger Dom Derrick, which Pete Regan converted.
But Techs went 21-7 ahead with a try from close range by Ollie Davey and a fine individual effort by Kieran Hurrell.
OPMs, though, re-grouped after the break on 20 minutes and scored 24 unanswered points in the second quarter.
Full-back Tom Rayner scored a well-worked try in the right corner after a scrum on the left, before Regan kicked a penalty and then Tom Sunderland and Calum Morgan scored tries to give the hosts a 29-21 lead at half-time.
The final two quarters were pretty even, but speedy full-back Rayner scored another fine try from a scrum in the middle of the park in the third quarter and then Sonny Rowe touched down from close range in the final period.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Plymstock Oaks concluded their pre-season fixtures with an encouraging performance against higher league Crediton.
Oaks were beaten 33-19 at Horsham Fields by the Regional Two South West side, but they certainly gave them a competitive game.
Crediton led 12-0 at half-time, but Oaks hit back and took a 14-12 lead thanks to converted tries by Aidan Webb and Steve Eaton.
The visitors did respond and went 26-14 ahead, but Oaks came back again with another try by Webb. However, Crediton did score a late converted try to seal the game.
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