DEVONPORT Services ran in seven tries to beat St Austell 41-17 at the Rectory on Saturday and maintain their 100 per cent start to their Regional One South West campaign.
Impressively, seven different players – Henry Gliddon, Toby Knowles, Tom Davies, Tyler Busfield, Sam Brown, Mike Rickard and Tom Richards – touched down for them in a match where they showed a real clinical edge.
St Austell, who are still to win a game this term, probably had as much – if not more – territory and possession, but were not able to turn it into points, whereas Services scored on nearly every occasion they reach the final third.
After just three games, they are the only team left with a 100 per cent record in the league, although newly-promoted Topsham have only dropped one bonus point from their opening three games.
Devonport head coach Ben Russell does feel his team are getting better each week, but he still feels there is a lot more to come.
“I think when we played well and played in the right areas we ripped them apart, but there were still too many mistakes sometimes,” Russell said afterwards.
“If you look at the first half, we gave them their two tries.
“We have gone 12-0 up, then from the kick-off have tried to play out from the back with a greasy ball and have dropped it and have given it to them. They kept it well and 10 or 11 phases later they score a try.
“The next one, we have actually kicked long but one missed tackle from nothing and they have scored.
“But I thought in the second half our D-sets were unreal – it was so much better. They have had to go to the last play to score in the corner.
“In the second half, we just kept getting up and going. It was phenomenal.
“And we were clinical and did score a couple of nice tries from our own half.
“But are we there yet? No, not yet, but we are getting there little by little, week by week.”
Both teams had chances before Services took the lead in the seventh minute with a fine try from returning Royal Navy back Gliddon after he linked up well with Knowles on the left wing.
Knowles then added a second six minutes later in the same corner after good pressure from a line-out. Brown added the conversion to put Services 12-0 up.
But St Austell did pull it back to 12-7 with a try by winger Max Bullen after intense pressure. The home side did defend their line well for a number of minutes, but eventually the visitors did find a gap out wide.
However, Services responded almost instantly after St Austell knocked on in their own 22 following the restart. After pressing from the scrum, Services were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Rather than kick it, they opted for another scrum, and they went wide from the set-piece and Davies scored in the right corner.
Saints, though, did show plenty of fight and on-loan Plymouth Albion fly-half Ben Saunders, a USA under-20 international, slipped through a tackle to score on 31 minutes and pull his side to within five points.
However, Devonport managed to bag their fourth try just before the break when replacement Busfield scored from a catch-and-drive move and Brown added the conversion to make it 24-12 at the interval.
Five minutes into the second half, Services were reduced to 14 men when lock Rickard was yellow carded for a foul tackle.
St Austell did cut through the home side’s defence a couple of times early in the second half, but could not finish the moves off.
Devonport then found themselves down to 13 men for a few minutes after Richard West was also shown yellow, but St Austell could not take advantage.
And within seconds of getting Rickard back on to the field to go back up to 14 players, Services scored their fifth try courtesy of summer signing Brown after some good play by Richards in the build-up.
Five minutes later, Rickard got on the score-sheet when he broke from 40 metres after more good play by Richards and the impressive Knowles.
Richards then got the try he deserved when he scored in the left corner after a great break by hooker Aiden Taylor. That made it 41-12.
But with the last play of the game, St Austell were awarded a try in the corner when centre Jamie Stanlake was adjudged to have grounded the ball, despite appeals that he had knocked it on.
REGIONAL TWO SOUTH WEST
IVYBRIDGE continued their 100 per cent home record this season by edging out Devon rivals Teignmouth 31-26 at Cross-in-Hand on Saturday.
The Bridgers’ win against previously unbeaten Teignmouth came despite having to play 47 minutes with 14 men after Marcus Prout was sent off in the first half following a melee.
The new-look Ivybridge team have picked up 12 points from a possible 15 from their opening three matches, but every game has been decided by just one score.
“I said to them afterwards, as long as we win and get five points at home, I’m happy,” said head coach Steve Atkinson. “We can work on the other bits.
“I was buzzing, although it is obviously not good for my heart.
“There are a few work-ons again, but again I think we had five 18-year-olds in the team and the young lads are doing well.”
Atkinson said he was not quite sure what had happened for Prout to be sent off.
“It was a bit of a shame,” said Atkinson, whose team also picked up a yellow card towards the closing stages.
“But it was good to hold the game out.”
Ivybridge took a 14-0 lead thanks to tries by Chey Bryce and Joe Owen, which were both converted by Harry Newman-Wild.
Then the melee happened which led to Prout getting sent off and Teignmouth cut the gap to 14-7.
Newman-Wild kicked a penalty to make it 17-7 before the visitors scored another converted try.
George Vertessy then scored Ivybridge’s third touch-down to move them 24-14 ahead.
Teignmouth again responded before Bryce added a second try and secured Ivybridge the bonus point with a touch-down in the 77th minute.
That made it 31-21 with just minutes to go, but there was still time for Teignmouth to score a fourth try and for Bryce to be yellow carded to set up a nervous few moments for the home supporters.
COUNTIES THREE CORNWALL
SALTASH seconds got their league campaign off the ground with a hard-earned 24-19 victory in tough conditions at Hayle.
Full-back Pete Harrigan scored with the last play of the match to clinch the win for the young Ashes side.
The game was even for the first 24 minutes before Hayle went over for a try and a 5-0 lead which is how it remained until the break.
The turnaround saw the Ashes playing up the hill, but on 45 minutes great interplay between wing Jake Gamble and flanker Tris Hills saw the former go over in the corner for a try.
Hayle retook the lead with a converted touch-down, but Saltash levelled the game once more with a try from fly-half Andrew Walsh, converted by centre Leo Clapham-Brown to square it at 12-12.
However, once again the hosts went ahead with a converted try to set up a tense last quarter.
The Ashes’ young side kept going and scored through winger Jake Gamble, with Clapham-Brown converting to level it up once more.
Saltash left to the last possible moment and the last play of the match to keep the ball alive and send full-back Harrigan over in the corner for the try that clinched the league points for the visitors.
CUP COMPETITIONS
PLYMSTOCK Oaks’ dreams of Twickenham did not last long as they were beaten 28-12 away at league rivals Truro in the Counties One Championship RFU Community Cup competition.
Oaks were again missing a host of players, including the likes of Devon stars Lewis Paterson, Corey Jamieson and Ollie White.
In horrible weather, they found themselves 26-0 down after 54 minutes, but they finished strongly and scored tries courtesy of Kieran Jamieson and Duncan Bibby.
Afterwards Oaks’ coach Mike Lewis said: “The conditions in the first half were atrocious – wild wind and rain – and they (Truro) played them a fair bit better than us.
“In the second half when the conditions died down a bit, we got back into the game a little, but we made some silly errors and a few different choices in the game would have changed the complexion slightly.
“We went with a very young side and there were lots of learning points.
“It is never easy in Cornwall. As I said they would, they had some big lads up front and some quick lads behind.
“It was one of those games where at certain points you thought we are in this again, but then we would just make an inexperienced decision and it would come back to bite us.
“It was just those tiny little things that you do learn from by playing games like this.
“It was frustrating at times, but enjoyable to see the way we adapted through the game.
“At the start we didn’t look like we had a clue, but we were on top for the last 20-25 minutes and they were just keeping us out and keeping us out. So, we did adapt really well, but it just took us too long to figure out the conditions.”
However, there was cup success in Cornwall for OPMs, who beat Plymouth Combination rivals Liskeard-Looe 19-5 at a wet and windy Lux Park in the Counties Two South Plate competition.
Fred Smale, George Pavious-Coward and Will Varley scored tries for the Old Boys on their trip across the Tamar.
“It wasn’t too bad,” said OPMs head coach James Digweed.
“They (Liskeard) were okay, but too be honest, we probably dropped our standard a bit and got sucked into their game a bit.
“I think in the first half we spent 32 minutes in their 22 without taking any points.”
OPMs led 7-5 at the break, but eventually pulled away in the second half.
Liskeard-Looe, though, will have a chance of revenge when the sides meet again in the Lockie Cup.
Saltash, Plymouth Argaum, Old Techs and Tamar Saracens were all handed walkovers in RFU cup competitions at the weekend, while in the Devon 2nd XV Cup, Ivybridge II overcame New Cross II 26-17 away.
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