DEVONPORT Services will be looking to maintain their 100 per cent record in Regional One South West on Saturday when they host St Austell at the Rectory.

Services have claimed a full 10 points from their opening two games against Sidmouth and Royal Wootton Bassett to take an early lead in the standings.

St Austell, who finished fourth last season, are currently at the opposite end of the early table having lost their opening two matches against Chew Valley and Lydney, where they have been without star player Matt Shepherd.

But Services head coach Ben Russell knows his side cannot afford to take them lightly.

“St Austell have not started the best,” said Russell. “I’m not sure if they have had people missing, but they have been in the league a while now so they understand it.

“They were a good team last year and they are normally one of those solid mid-table teams who on their day can beat anyone.”

When Services won the Regional One South West title two years ago, they only lost three games, which was the same number Barnstaple went up with last term.

So, any team with aspirations of pushing for promotion know they cannot slip up on too many occasions.

“That was the difference between the year we won the league and my first year here,” said Russell.

“In my first year we slipped up and lost games we shouldn’t have lost like at Old Centralians and at home to Okehampton.

“But the year after we worked massively hard on making sure we didn’t drop below a certain performance level as we knew if we did, teams would beat us.

“We know we have to be at that level as much as we can.”

He added: “We were much better last week (against Royal Wootton Bassett). We attacked really well and moved the ball well. We were also more physical in defence and the desire and passion was there more than the week before.”

Services do not have a second team game this weekend and so have plenty of players to select from.

However, the only personnel change is likely to see Royal Navy man Henry Gliddon coming back into the team, with Shaun Crawford likely to sit out this week as he will be missing their next two league games against Brixham and Chew Valley.

“We have Ivybridge next week (in the Devon Cup), then Brixham away and Chew at home so we also have to plan towards those games as well,” said Russell, who is keen to test out different combinations.

If Gliddon comes in for his first appearance of the season, he is likely to start at full-back, with Billy Orchard moving to centre.

Ivybridge are also in league action on Saturday when they host Teignmouth at Cross-in-Hand in Regional Two South West.

The Bridgers have picked up seven points from a possible 10 from their opening two games by beating Winscombe 35-34 at home and then narrowly losing 37-32 away at North Petherton.

Teignmouth, who just escaped relegation last season, have made a good start to this campaign with bonus-point home wins over North Petherton and Cullompton, but this weekend will be their first away trip.

The two Devon sides have not played each other since the 2013-14 season when Ivybridge won both matches in Western West to beat Teignmouth for the title.

“I don’t really know anything about them,” admitted Ivybridge head coach Steve Atkinson.

However, Atkinson has made no secret of his desire for his team to try and win all their home games.

And this weekend is the start of a run of three big home fixtures.

After hosting Teignmouth, they then welcome Devonport Services to Cross-in-Hand in the Devon Cup before entertaining Okehampton in the league.

Although the league is their main focus, Atkinson is looking forward to the club’s first and second teams playing cup games.

“I want to try and use the cup runs to get more the of the youngsters playing, but it will depend on who is available,” he said. “Obviously, we are going to go for it as we want to go as far as we can in them, but I still want to promote the youth and get the young lads playing as much men’s rugby as they can.”

CUP RUGBY

AFTER a tough game away at Barnstaple II last weekend, Plymstock Oaks are on the road again this Saturday as they visit league rivals Truro in the Counties One Championship Community Cup.

Oaks, who has beaten Torquay Athletic at home in their opening league game of the season, lost 57-7 at Barnstaple last weekend.

“If you looked at their (Barnstaple II’s) team sheet, they had half a team that was starting in their first team last year,” said Oaks coach Mike Lewis. “They had a very reasonable side out.

“Unfortunately, we just missed some tackles, but when we did get the ball and kept in then we did break them down but just couldn’t quite score.

“There were positives to take, but also plenty to work on.

“But the best bit was that we had 38 players playing last Saturday considering we had 15 injuries and five lads on holiday. We did really well to get two good sides out last weekend. The twos played against Tamar Saracens and beat them for the first time, which was brilliant.”

Oaks have been struggling with injuries and they are also without head coach Lewis Paterson this weekend, but Lewis is hoping the team can beat Truro so they can start dreaming about a trip to Twickenham.

“This cup competition is quite nice,” he said. “If you can get past the first round, then everyone gets a bit excited as you know you can play at Twickenham.

“No-one tends to get excited for this first round, but you only have to win four games to get to Twickenham, so if you get through the first one then the excitement grows.”

Oaks have not played Truro for five-and-a-half years since they were both in the Cornwall/Devon League.

Truro stormed through the leagues and in 2022-23 they finished third in Regional One South West, just behind St Austell and Crediton.

But last year they were relegated from level six to Western West.

“No-one has a clue about them,” said Lewis. “Historically, they have been quite big up front with a couple of quick players out-wide, which is the same with most Cornish teams.

“We know going away down to Cornwall is always tough.

“We have some young lads in the side, but they are all pretty capable.”

Saltash should have also been in cup action on Saturday when they were due to host Kingsbridge at Chapel Field in the Community Cup Counties One South Plate competition.

But Kingsbridge, who will also be their next league opponents on October 5, have handed the Ashes a walkover due to injuries and unavailabilities.

The Ashes have opened life in Western West with a last-gasp 20-15 away defeat at Newton Abbot and a 36-25 home win over St Ives, despite missing a lot of players themselves.

And director of rugby Down admits his side’s performances in their first two games back at level seven have given them some confidence.

“We played a team that had come down, and we weren’t sure what that was going to be like. They were fairly strong,” said Down.

“But I think we know what we are expecting now and feel like we can do really well.

“We have taken quite a lot of lessons in these last two games – and some of it we know is within our control and those bits that are, we’ll keep working on.

“When we get our heads together, I think we can trouble anybody in this league.”

Saltash, though, will be without captain James Moriarty for a while after he broke his leg in their opening match against Newton Abbot.

“He got double-tackled and his foot got stuck,” said Down. “He’s broken the outside bone around the ankle, but it was a clean break, so he doesn’t need surgery and we are hoping to have him back in November.”

However, Saltash’s second team are due to start their league season this weekend when they visit Hayle in Counties Three Cornwall.

In the Counties Two South Plate section of the RFU Community Cup, OPMs will make the trip across the Tamar to play Plymouth Combination rivals Liskeard-Looe at Lux Park.

The sides have not met in a competitive RFU game for 10 years when they were both in the old Cornwall/Devon League.

Both clubs have started their seasons with one win and one defeat.

OPMs overcame Crediton II 32-28 in their opening match before going down 40-24 away at Bideford last weekend in Counties Two Devon.

Liskeard-Looe opened their Counties Two Cornwall season with a 19-13 home win over Launceston II before losing 27-0 at Newquay Hornets last Saturday.

OPMs also lost to Newquay in pre-season, while Liskeard beat Plymouth Argaum and Old Techs in warm-up games.

Previous meetings between the two sides have tended to be pretty close.

Old Techs, Plymouth Argaum and Tamar Saracens have all been handed walkovers in the Counties Three Championship Community Cup competition.

Techs should have been visiting Hayle, Argaum had been due to host North Tawton and Sarries had been scheduled to entertain Somerset side Tor.