DEVONPORT Services missed out on reaching the Devon Senior Cup final by losing 30-20 away at league rivals Exmouth on Saturday.
Services had beaten Exmouth 21-10 the week before at the Rectory in a league game.
But that Regional One South West match had come at a cost with backs Sam Brown and Toby Knowles picking up injuries.
And this weekend they also lost Richard West and Jesse Lowe.
Centre Lowe was only making his second appearance for Services – and his first away from home – but he ended up going to hospital after taking a heavy knock that saw the game held up for 20 minutes and then moved to the second team pitch.
At the time, the cup tie was evenly poised at 23-20 to Exmouth, but the home side went and sealed the victory with a late converted try.
“We wanted to be in the Devon Cup final and try and win it, but Exmouth were the better team on the day,” admitted Services head coach Ben Russell.
“Our set-piece wasn’t good enough. We struggled in the scrums and our line-out was poor. If you don’t have a set piece, then you are going to struggle.”
He added: “Exmouth have got a good scrum and every time they got a scrum penalty in their half they kicked for goal.
“They were also physical and ran hard.
“After last week and having only one week off since the start of the season, I think there were just a few tired bodies.
“We didn’t attack the line enough, but when we did do it, we played some lovely rugby.”
Services, already missing backs Harrison Coonick, Tom Davies, Sam Brown, Dan Lilley, Matt Neyle and Toby Knowles and front-rowers Rikki Bentham and Aiden Taylor, suffered a blow on 10 minutes when fly-half West had to go off.
They had taken an early lead with an interception try by Billy Orchard.
However, Exmouth hit back with a penalty and then a converted try to make it 10-5.
Both teams exchanged penalties to leave the score at 13-8 to Exmouth at the break.
On a heavy pitch, the visitors pulled level after the interval with a fine try by Charlie Groves after some good handling down the far side.
But Services knocked on at the re-start and Exmouth scored from the resultant scrum after a couple of missed tackles.
Devonport, though, did pull level again when James McFarlane scored from a driving maul and Orchard added the conversion.
Exmouth edged in front with another penalty before Lowe’s worrying injury that caused a lengthy delay and pitch move.
Services wanted to continue in the hope of snatching victory at the death, but it was the home side that got the crucial score to set up a final with Brixham.
But there was better news for Devonport’s second team that did reach the final of the Devon 2nd XV Cup after coming from behind to beat Brixham II 53-31 at Keyham on Saturday.
Services II, who top Counties Two Devon, were trailing 24-12 to the Counties Three Devon South & West leaders at half-time, but, having made some changes, they turned the semi-final around with seven second-half tries.
Sam Fincham finished the afternoon with four tries. He scored Services II’s only touch-downs in the first period and then added two more after the interval before tweaking his hamstring.
Fellow back Toby Moss added two in the second half before he also had to go off injured.
Forwards Josh Martin and Al Thomas also crossed the whitewash, as did back Charlie Over.
Services II, who had been forced to make a lot of changes due to injuries in the first team, just did not click in the first half.
But getting an early try straight after the interval courtesy of Martin just seemed to bring them to life and they started getting their strong runners going, while player-coach Aiden Taylor, who has been struggling with injury, came on and played fly-half and helped direct the side, while Taine Morgan also came on and made some strong runs.
Plymstock Oaks narrowly missed out on reaching the Devon Intermediate Cup final by losing 40-35 to higher league side Okehampton in an entertaining semi-final at Horsham Fields.
Oaks will definitely look back and think it was a game that they could easily have won.
They were the better team in the opening 40 minutes but, despite playing well, didn’t score the points they should have done. They also missed six kicks at goal during the contest – five conversions and a penalty – whereas Okehampton’s Luke Simmons only missed one kick all afternoon.
Oaks, despite missing Alex Chapman, Sean Wills and Ollie White, did out-score their higher league opponents on tries, with impressive young scrum-half Harry Toghill bagging a hat-trick, but it just was not enough to see them into the final.
“We are doing some really good stuff,” said Oaks head coach Lewis Paterson.
“There was some really good rugby and we were really pleased.
“Okehampton are a league above, and, I said at the end, the decider was probably that they just made less errors than us.
“I think we knocked a couple of balls on and little things like that and they capitalised on them and got points.
“In the first half we were really playing some good rugby, but we probably left a lot of points out there.
“It’s frustrating, but if you never make those errors, you will never grow.
“I think if we hadn’t conceded those two (at the start of the second half) it would have been different.
“I think we just had a 10-minute blip where we were a bit flat but then we got sparked back into life and played some good rugby.
“It is about getting that consistency.
“But we are a really young team.
“We had a little bit of a shuffle. We gave some opportunities to some young lads. Dan Jewell came in and Zac Gilbert started at 10. Sean Wills also pulled out in the warm-up, so we called Nathan Akers up from the seconds.
“But this game was a really good opportunity for the young lads to see where we want to grow to in the next few years and we know we can do it.
“Harry Toghill is only 18, as is Charlie Watson, Alfie Upton, Jack Tweedie, Charlie Dutton and Aidan Webb and Archie Gray is only 19. These players will be the future of this club.
Paterson was full of praise for scrum-half Toghill, who has scored five tries in his last two games.
“He’s in his first year of senior rugby and he’s scoring a hat-trick against a team in the league above,” said Paterson. “He’s a very mature player and he is deceptively quick. He never looks like he is running quick, but he is.”
Saturday’s semi-final was played at a fast pace, with both teams keen to throw it about and run at every opportunity.
Oaks, playing up the slope first half, got the start they wanted when Toghill scored his first of the afternoon after a tap penalty after just two minutes.
But Okehampton quickly responded with a fine individual try by centre Richard Friend, which Simmons converted.
The home side then went down to 14 men for 10 minutes after Hayden Coles was yellow-carded, but they still attacked and came so close to scoring a second try.
They did get a penalty on 23 minutes which Gilbert kicked to edge his side 8-7 in front.
Oaks then wasted a glorious opportunity with an overlap on the left, but they just could not find the final ball.
They also missed a penalty in front of the posts and were then stopped right on the try-line by Okehampton, who did scramble back well to defend, despite having a player yellow carded themselves.
However, Oaks’ pressure did tell with Toghill getting his second in the left corner after some good passing across the line.
But against the run of play, and three minutes into added-on time, Okehampton scored a second try courtesy of flanker Ed Cross, who benefited from some more good play by Friend. Simmons again converted to put the visitors 14-13 up at half-time.
And Okehampton took hold of the game in the opening 10 minutes of the second half with two tries within the space of three minutes courtesy of Mike Stevens and Josh McCulloch.
Plymstock eventually woke up again and cut Okehampton’s lead to six points with a catch-and-drive try from hooker Rob Hall.
Toghill then bagged his hat-trick with a clever try down the blindside from a scrum.
Oaks could not convert either of those tries so they trailed 26-23.
Okehampton thought they had put the game to bed with scores in the corner from full-back Leon Horn and wing Stevens that moved them 40-23 ahead.
But Plymstock had different ideas, and they dominated the final 10 minutes.
Replacement Lewis Paterson gave them hope with a try under the posts after some intense pressure.
And Paterson then added a second, but it came too late as the referee blew for full-time after that score.
Plymstock’s second team were beaten 52-0 by higher league Exmouth II in the semi-finals of the Devon 2nd XV Shield.
Ivybridge handed Topsham two walkovers on Saturday. Their first teams should have been playing in the Devon Senior Shield and their second teams in the Devon 2nd XV Cup.
A last-gasp penalty by Fred Smale secured OPMs a nail-biting 20-19 victory over in-form Liskeard-Looe at Lux Park in the Plymouth Combination Lockie Cup.
Liskeard, who have lost just one league game all season, were 19-14 up going into the closing stages, but two Smale kicks saw OPMs through to the next round.
Smale actually scored all of the Old Boys’ points in Cornwall with a try and 15 points from his boot.
It was the second time this season OPMs had beaten Liskeard-Looe at Lux Park as they also triumphed there 19-5 in the RFU Community Cup.
“I believe the last game they had lost (before Saturday) was against us,” said OPMs’ head coach James Digweed. “They have been on a bit of a run.
“It looked like a completely different team to what we played the last time.
“I would say for the first 35 minutes of the game we were in their 22 but just did not take any points away.
“We went ahead, but then they came back.
“A few mistakes by us and they scored two quick tries.
“But we just kept chipping away at their lead with penalties and then won it with the last kick of the game.
“They had a good crowd who were definitely behind them.”
Pictures from Plymstock Oaks v Okehampton
Pictures from Devonport Services II v Brixham II at Keyham
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