DEVONPORT Services’ unbeaten start to the season came crashing to an end on Saturday as they went down 59-10 away at big rivals Brixham.
Services had won their opening four league and cup games and went into the match sitting top of the Regional One South West table.
And they took the lead at Astley Park in the 23rd minute with a try from Tom Davies, but then it all went wrong for them.
Already without Rikki Bentham, James McFarlane, Kyle Felton, Shaun Crawford, Dan Lilley, George Pooley and Tom Richards, they lost flanker Liam Jarvis with an injury and then his replacement, Mark Friend, also had to go off injured just 10 minutes after coming on.
And they just lost their way and a fire-up Brixham, who had lost their last two league games, punished them.
The Fishermen, who have boosted their squad in the last couple of weeks with New Zealanders Aston Pickens, Jimmy Vidiri and Jayden Marsters, from Northcote RFC, took a 28-5 half-time lead and then completely pulled away in the final 10 minutes.
The home side ended up running in nine tries, despite picking up a couple of yellow cards.
Andre Simmonetti and Jason Capaldi both scored two tries for the hosts, who also had Harry Rodwell, Mitch Pinkus, Jamie Hext, Masters and Tommy Drennan crossing the whitewash and Joel Ashworth adding the extras.
Devonport’s only reply in the second half came from a try by replacement Luke Stannard.
“They (Brixham) could have had three sent off for high tackles to the head, but at the end of the day we were soft and didn’t front up and they wanted it more,” said Services head coach Ben Russell.
“It was a bit like when we went to Barnstaple the year we went up. We went there and lost by 40 points or something.
“We lost Liam Jarvis after 10 minutes after a shoulder to the face and Friendy came on for him, but we lost him after 10 minutes after his knee clicked.
“We were 28-5 down at half-time, but we didn’t make them score any of their tries; they came from missed tackles.
“In the second half, they just kept knocking on the door and we kept making mistakes and they ran out deserved winners.
“If you ask me if 59-10 was a fair result, taking out the referee, I would say ‘yes, it was’.
“We have only lost one game, but we just have to front up and be better. I know we will be.”
REGIONAL TWO SOUTH WEST
IVYBRIDGE kept their 100 per cent home league record intact with a 29-21 victory over Devon rivals Okehampton at Cross-in-Hand on Saturday.
The five points they collected has moved them up to second in the table, just three points behind early leaders Weston-super-Mare.
Ivybridge went 12-0 up in the first six minutes with tries by Adam Lilley and Charlie Teague.
Okehampton pulled it back to 12-7, but then the home side went 22-7 in front with a penalty try and then a Harry Newman-Wild penalty. That was how it stayed until half-time.
Midway through the second period, the visitors pulled a try back, but Teague then added a second to move Ivybridge 29-14 ahead.
Okehampton did score a converted try five minutes from time, but Ivybridge were able to hold on to the five points.
“It was another exciting game,” said Ivybridge head coach Steve Atkinson.
“We were fairly under control, but there were just a few little, small errors again. We were a bit too keen around the ruck to get our hands on the ball this week, so that is something we need to look at.
“But I was really proud of the lads, especially from the game-management side of things to be able to see it out.
“I think we went 15 points up, but they scored with five or six minutes to go, yet the lads showed some really good game-management and I was really happy with that.
“The boys put a proper shift in.”
COUNTIES ONE WESTERN WEST
SALTASH and Plymstock Oaks both suffered narrow defeats in the highly-competitive Western West league, where every team has got at least one victory and also suffered at least one defeat in their opening three matches.
Newly-promoted Saltash went down 27-22 away at Kingsbridge, while Oaks were beaten 32-24 at home by Redruth II, who are now the new leaders.
For Saltash it was their second one-score away defeat of the season, having gone down 20-15 to a last-gasp try at Newton Abbot on the opening day.
The Ashes, missing Lewis Wells, James Moriarty, Ryan Rayner, Danny Snook, Greg Eatwell and Devon Bennett-Murray, did pick up a bonus point, but they were frustrated it was not more.
They described their performance as ‘unusually lack lustre’ after a two-week break.
Playing with the strong wind at their backs, Kingsbridge got off to a strong start and following a penalty scored a converted try after just five minutes.
Saltash, who are still getting to grips with the standard of rugby in Western West, suffered an early injury to lock Tom Hoban following a penetrating burst into the Kingsbridge half after 12 minutes.
However, the visitors came back five minutes later and some smart movement by the Ashes backs was ended with right winger Will Morton touching down.
A home penalty extended Kingsbridge’s lead on 22 minutes, but Saltash battled well and surged back down the left and Lewis Woolaway was able to finish off a good attack and cross for a try two minutes later, which was converted by Jack Pritchard. That put the Ashes 12-10 in front at half-time.
Kingsbridge got off to another strong and positive start in the second half and within two minutes were back in the lead with a try on the right wing.
Their forwards were exerting some pressure on Saltash and were rewarded with another try after 50 minutes.
But a yellow card for the home side gave a numerical advantage to Saltash, who came back to within a point with a converted try by Todd Crofts and the added points by Pritchard. That made it 20-19 with 14 minutes to go.
However, any chance of victory faded for the Ashes when, after a penalty Kingsbridge, broke through the Ashes defence for a converted try.
With seconds left Pritchard kicked a penalty to earn the visitors a bonus point.
Saltash were hard working but were not quite able to match their Devon rivals, although did come close towards the end to snatching an away victory.
There was also disappointment for Oaks, who also let a narrow half-time lead slip.
Oaks scored three first half tries to be leading 19-17 at a windy Horsham Fields.
Lewis Paterson got their first after just three minutes, before young scrum-half Harry Toghill crossed the whitewash on 15 minutes and then Kieran Jamieson added their third on 26 minutes.
Finley Robinson, former Plymouth Combination player Rohan Ewels and Connor Chesterfield crossed for Redruth in the opening 40 minutes.
After the interval, Redruth went 29-19 in front with tries by Kaiden Carne and Bailey Williams, but Oaks pulled it back to a one score game with another try by Paterson with five minutes to go.
However, Oaks’ hopes of snatching it at the end were dashed with a penalty by Redruth fly-half Nat Dart, which also denied Plymstock an extra bonus point.
COUNTIES TWO DEVON
TAVISTOCK were the only team from the area to claim a win in Counties Two Devon at the weekend.
They beat Withycombe 26-22 at Sandy Park, thanks to a hat-trick of tries by the powerful Liam Watts.
Tavistock did score four tries, with Chris Watts bagging their other, to claim their second successive league win.
They have picked up 11 points from a maximum of 15, with their only defeat a narrow 26-20 loss to Devonport Services II.
Tavistock had been 24-5 up at one point on Saturday, but Withycombe finished strongly to pick up two bonus points on the road.
“For about 65 minutes it was brilliant from us,” said Tavistock head coach Leigh Puttock.
“Yet once we hit the 26-point mark and the bonus point was secured, we took our foot of the gas.
“But they (Withycombe) have their strengths. Up front they are strong and for 65 minutes we countered that. It was only once they started using their backs and getting it as wide as possible and as quick as possible that they got around us.”
As well as the tries from Liam and Chris Watts, Tavistock had Freddie Fuller chipping in with three conversions.
Withycombe’s tries came from Joel Ranft, Jake Vincent-Edwards, Cody Kane and Ben Dawson.
OPMs suffered home heartbreak as they were narrowly beaten 17-15 at home by South Molton.
The Old Boys did have the chance to snatch a draw after Callum Morgan scored a late try, but they missed the conversion to share the points.
“We were very disappointed,” said team manager Shaun Grundy. “We were the much better side but just failed to execute.
“We had a really impressive start to the second half; showing aggression we have lacked in previous weeks, but we just couldn’t pull it back.”
South Molton had gone 10-0 up with a try by Jake Cook and a conversion and penalty from Jake Knapman.
But OPMs did pull level with a Fred Smale try and a conversion and a penalty from his younger brother, Matt.
South Molton, though, edged 17-10 ahead with a converted try by Reid Allen, but OPMs came back again with Morgan’s try, but just could not add the conversion in the wind.
Devonport Services II suffered their first defeat of the season as they narrowly went down 34-31 away at Honiton.
Services II were 31-22 up in the second half, but Honiton, who had Ben Kidson scoring four of their five tries, came back to snatch the win.
Devonport’s tries came from Harrison Coonick (2), Brandon Bonser, Jack Jones and Dylan Harbour, with Leighton Stark kicking three conversions.
Honiton’s other try came from Phil Cooke, with Johnny House converting three tries and adding a penalty.
Ivybridge II are still waiting for their first win in the league after their promotion. They were beaten 58-12 at home by high-flying Bideford, who have a 100 per cent record so far this season.
COUNTIES THREE DEVON SOUTH & WEST
OLD Techs finally got their first win of the season as they beat a spirited Plymstock Oaks II team 39-26 at Weston Mill.
Techs, narrowly beaten by Paignton II and Torquay II in their opening two games, had stormed into a 27-0 lead at half-time on Saturday.
In the first 40 minutes, when they were playing with the wind, they appeared just too strong and physical for a young Oaks side.
They were totally dominating the scrums and their strong runners, like Ollie Davey, Billy Evans and Lewis Harvey, were just brushing off tackles.
Techs had scored four unanswered tries in the opening 40 minutes, with Kieran Hurrell getting them underway before Davey, Sammy Matts and Evans all ran scores from the halfway line.
Oaks’ heads could have easily dropped at half-time, but they didn’t and, with the wind advantage, they actually pulled it back to a one-score game with seven minutes to go, thanks to tries by Ollie Birleson (2), Connor Foley and Jerome Davies and conversions from Zac Gilbert.
But Techs, who had scored an early second-half try from prop Ryan Traynor-Smith, sealed the win with an injury-time try from Harvey, which Matts converted.
“It’s a win,” said Techs’ Shaun Bedford-Smith afterwards. “Our first half performance was good. There were a couple of good individual tries and a few well-worked tries and our scrummage was good.
“We knew second half we were going to be under pressure with them having the wind and the slight slope. The game-plan was to keep it tight, to get up on them defensively and not give them space – as we could see they had a few young lads who could run.
“But we just disintegrated a bit really, if we are honest. I was glad that the whistle went.”
He added: “Sometimes you are not going to win with lovely silky skills, especially in winter conditions, but we have to work on fitness and tackling. The amount of missed tackles was too many.
“When we put some phases together in the second half we scored, but we were knocking on not even under pressure, which was very unlike us. Yet, sometimes you just have to get a scrappy win from anywhere – and we have got it now.
“We had only played two games but there was pressure on us as we were at home and we knew that Oaks have got some good young players coming through.
“When they did put the pressure on us second half our tackling wasn’t good enough really and neither was our game-management. We were just giving penalties away.
“So, we had to dig deep there to get the win. Fair play to Oaks, they didn’t give up; it was brilliant from them.”
Bedford-Smith did have praise for Brandon Chaston, who made his first start at hooker for them.
Plymouth Argaum suffered their first defeat of the season as they went down 48-7 away at Brixham II in a match that was played after Brixham’s first team game with Devonport Services.
Dan Smith scored Argaum’s only try at Astley Park.
“It was frustrating,” said Argaum head coach Dean Avery. “We had 20 players, but three cried off. It’s really frustrating when you go away and haven’t got enough subs and can’t make changes.
“Brixham moved the ball really well. They had a lot of young guys who were very fast and agile, and they punished us when we didn’t look after the ball.
“It’s not so much back to the drawing board for us, but we just need the right people travelling.
“For me to travel light and to have 48 points put on by my previous club is quite embarrassing.
“But we have to pick ourselves up. It’s a long, old season and it’s not all done and dusted just by one result away at Brixham.”
Plympton Victoria felt there were positives to take from their 57-13 defeat away at unbeaten Torquay Athletic II.
The Tics second team have started the season well with a 67-15 victory over Oaks II and a narrow 27-25 win over Old Techs, while Plym Vic are still waiting for their first win after defeats to Argaum and Paignton II.
“They (Torquay) just ran away with it at the end,” said Plym Vic chairman Chris Hunt. “It was fairly reasonable until about the 50-minute mark.
“But we only had three subs on the bench – two of which were 55 years-old – whereas they had a full bench and had plenty of people to swap around to keep them fresh.
“But we did all right really. Our line-out was reasonably effective and our scrum was pretty good and we are seeing little improvements in our play.
“Torquay are a big club and they have a massive player pool to pick from, so it was okay.
“We were fairly pleased as we made some improvements, and we did better than the last time we played them.”
Chris Barratt scored all Plym Vic’s points in south Devon, courtesy of a try, a 45-yard conversion and two penalties.
Meanwhile, in a club match, the Medics beat a Devonport Services III team 22-12 at the Rectory.
The students went 12-0 up, but Services III pulled it back to 12-12 thanks to tries by Cole Page and Cieron Poat and a conversion from Oli Mytton, but the Medics used their pace well to seal the win.
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