A LAST-gasp try by Tom Richards, which was converted by Billy Orchard, secured Devonport Services a 31-31 draw away at Topsham in a top-of-the-table Regional One South West clash.
Services head coach Ben Russell felt it was definitely three points gained rather than two points dropped after coming back from 31-10 down in the game at Bonfire Field.
The bonus-point draw keeps them two points clear at the top of the table, with Topsham staying in second place.
“We got out of jail,” admitted Russell.
“I will massively take the three points.
“With about 10 minutes to go we got it back to 31-24 and I said I was happy with a point as we were that bad in the first half.
“We just didn’t turn up in the first half. But to be fair to the lads, they just kept at it.”
He added: “We let them (Topsham) play, but they did play some decent rugby and move the ball. Our defence was nowhere near where it should be and we were falling off tackles and leaving holes, but they did move it well and played good rugby.
“Second half we got more line-speed, and we stopped them playing.
“We were nowhere near where we needed to be, but we have come away with three points.
“If you had said we could get three points from probably the worst game we have played all year in parts, I would have taken it.
“We came back well in the end, but had Topsham won the game, I wouldn’t have had any qualms – and they probably deserved it on the day.”
Services went into the big game without Richard West, Tom Davies, Sam Brown, Jesse Lowe, Toby Knowles, Henry Gliddon, George Pooley, James Hocking, Rikki Bentham and Yianni Costas, but they did have Harrison Coonick and Matt Neyle back.
They went 10-0 down early on, but Neyle kicked a penalty to reduce the deficit.
Topsham then opened up a 17-3 advantage, which was cut when prop Oli Symons scored Services’ first try, which Neyle converted.
But the home side scored another converted try to go in at the break 24-10 in front.
That became 31-10 after the interval before Services finally got going.
Liam Jarvis scored from a catch-and-drive move to make it 31-17 and then Charlie Groves scored with an interception try to bring Devonport within a score.
Topsham missed a kick at goal and almost out of nowhere Services scored right at the death, with Coonick putting Richards in to score and Orchard holding his nerve to convert.
REGIONAL TWO SOUTH WEST
IVYBRIDGE head coach Steve Atkinson had praise for his team’s performance, despite going down 35-0 away at unbeaten runaway leaders Weston-super-Mare.
The loss has dropped Ivybridge down to sixth in the table, but Atkinson was keen to highlight the positives.
“The scoreline definitely didn’t reflect the game,” said Atkinson afterwards.
“I’d say we had a good 50 minutes of the ball but just couldn’t convert.
“They (Weston) came out the blocks really quick which we knew they would do and we went 14-0 down after 10 minutes.
“We then played some really good rugby for about 20 minutes but just couldn’t convert.
“I’m actually surprisingly happy with our performance because we moved the ball about like I asked the lads to do even with the weather conditions. Also, the defensive effort to get the ball back was excellent.
“Weston are a good side and will do well at level five.”
He added: “We ended up playing on their third team pitch in the end as they hadn’t really made much effort to try and sort their main pitch out after the rain.
“We turned up and they had only just started trying to get rid of the 12 patches of standing water so we ended up only having a 20-minute warm-up in the end which wasn’t ideal but it is what it is.”
COUNTIES ONE WESTERN WEST
PLYMSTOCK Oaks paid for a poor first half as they were surprisingly beaten 46-12 at home by St Ives.
It was St Ives’ first away win of the season and moves them up to second in the table.
The visitors, who had lost at Saltash and Wiveliscombe in their only other away matches, did the damage in the opening 40 minutes as they stormed into a 34-0 lead thanks to tries by James Curnow, Alfie Brown, Matthew Turton, Nick Prout (2) and Chris Warren.
Oaks, who had pushed higher league Okehampton right to the wire the previous week in the Devon Intermediate Cup, did hit back after the interval with two tries from replacement Ollie White, the second of which was converted by player-coach Lewis Paterson.
However, there was to be no fairy-tale comeback as the visitors scored two late tries courtesy of Warren and Will McRitchie to seal an eye-catching first away win.
Saltash must be wondering when their luck is going to change, and they can start turning narrow defeats into victories.
For the fourth consecutive away match, the Ashes lost by just one score, going down 19-12 to Torquay Athletic.
Saltash had also lost by just a score at Newton Abbot, Kingsbridge and Paignton in their other fixtures on their travels, and also at home to Wiveliscombe.
They have picked up at least a point in every one of their seven league matches to date and do have 13 points, but they still remain bottom of a tight league. However, they will know they do have some winnable home games in the second half of the season.
With both them and Torquay having been promoted last season and still trying to find their feet in the higher league, Saturday’s match was always going to be a closely-contested game.
And for long periods there was nothing between the sides, until the home team took control in the last 10 minutes to take the win.
Saltash edged the early exchanges and were rewarded with a try on the left wing after eight minutes when skipper Jay Moriarty squeezed into score close to the touchline and scrum-half Jack Pritchard converted with an excellent kick.
Torquay came back and pressed the Ashes defence which held out until the 22nd minute when some slick handling led to a try on the left wing from Ryan Hanauer to reduce the visitors lead.
The game continued to be evenly balanced but was interrupted several times by the referee who showed cards to both sides for careless play.
Saltash missed a penalty at the end of the first half but did change ends in front at 7-5.
The second period continued to be fairly even although the Ashes did have occasions when their visits towards the home line could have resulted in points being scored but opportunities were not taken.
The game looked as though it was drifting to an uninspiring conclusion until a Torquay maul by their forwards resulted in a try by Ben Sharples to give the hosts a 12-7 lead with 10 minutes to go.
This advantage was quickly extended six minutes later when the Torquay backs ran through the Saltash defence for another converted try courtesy of full-back Billy Whalley.
A late rally by the Ashes into home territory allowed Phil Eatwell to pass the ball to Greg Eatwell, who touched down for the final score of the game.
For Saltash Billy Dover at fly half had a good game and tackled well while prop forward Ryan Simmons put in a solid performance.
COUNTIES TWO DEVON
DEVONPORT Services II remain at the top of Counties Two Devon after they edged out Crediton II 28-26 away from home on Saturday.
Services II made the trip with a much-changed team due to injuries and unavailabilities but still managed to return with a full five points.
Crediton went in front early on, but Services II pulled level with a try by Ethan Hilland, which Leighton Stark converted.
The home side hit back and regained the lead with an unconverted try, but Services II dug deep in heavy conditions to take a 21-12 half-time lead thanks to tries by forwards Matt Scott and Freddy Dover.
They then increased their lead to 28-12 with a touch-down from Al Thomas, which Stark again converted.
Crediton did finish strongly but Services II were able to hold out.
“I think the twos were even more heroic then the first team,” said Services head coach Ben Russell.
“To come away and get five points from that one is a real pat on the back.
“We have had a really positive weekend despite having loads of injuries and unavailabilities, so we’ll take that.”
OPMs have moved up to sixth in the table after they surprised Exeter Saracens at King George V Playing Fields on Saturday.
The Old Boys scored six converted tries to triumph 42-26.
Exeter Saracens had started the day in third place and had only lost one game all season.
The visitors had taken an early lead, but after that OPMs started to dominate and went 33-12 ahead, before Exeter did get a couple of late scores, while the hosts also got a penalty try.
Isaac Salt bagged two touch-downs for OPMs and he was only denied a third illegally, which led to the penalty try.
David Broughton, Sonny Rowe and Callum Morgan also scored tries for the Old Boys, which were all converted by Fred Smale.
“It was a really good win,” said head coach James Digweed. “I’m really happy.
“It all came together.
“They (Exeter Saracens) had a full side out. They scored first, but we just stuck to our structures and our forwards were fantastic.
That is the best I have seen us play in three or four years. It all just came together really nice.
“Our forwards were really dominant this week. It was very pleasing.”
Ivybridge II finally moved off the bottom of the table after they beat Tavistock 21-12 at Cross-in-Hand on Saturday.
It was the Bridgers’ second league win a row and came courtesy of three converted tries in the opening 21 minutes.
Tavistock, who had started the day in seventh spot, just struggled early on to get used to the artificial pitch.
They got caught out a number of times by the bounce on the ball early on and Ivybridge, led by the experienced Matt Grieveson, took advantage.
Fly-half Grieveson got the hosts off the mark after just five minutes when he scored under the posts after pressure from a line-out that he had won for his side with a great 50-22 kick. He also added the conversion.
And it got better for Ivybridge when winger Josh Hughes scored in the right corner and Grieveson added the tough conversion. That try came after Tavistock had lost the ball in their half and Ivybridge had kicked it forward and then put the pressure on.
The home side, who did have the wind advantage first half, added a third just six minutes later when Matt Gilbury crossed from close range and Grieveson again converted.
Tavistock, who did struggle with their line-outs all afternoon, then came to life. They started totally dominating the scrums and having a lot of pressure.
And they managed to get two tries back before half-time courtesy of number eight Vaughan Glover and scrum-half Oscar Slater after Logan Sulsh had just been stopped short in the corner.
At that point, it was looking like Tavistock would turn the game around in the second period with the wind and their dominant scrum.
But the half-time break just took away their momentum.
And the game lost its way in the second half. Grieveson missed a penalty kick and Jake Neville was denied a try in the corner due to a knock-on, while Tavistock’s Freddie Fuller was denied an interception try after the referee pulled play back for a penalty.
But apart from those three incidents there was little else to note in the second half, only that Tavistock replacement Andrew Schuttkacker lasted just two minutes on the pitch before having to go off injured.
“We lost and we have to own that,” said Tavistock head coach Leigh Puttock afterwards.
Before the match, Puttock had called on his team to not start slowly again, but that is what happened.
“It’s about putting energy on the ball, not running around aimlessly,” he said. “We were working on that during the week and before the game.
“I think knowledge of the pitch was a big factor.
“But there were some massive positives; our scrum was dominant all day long – and I can’t believe we didn’t get more penalties from them popping up – and Sheldon (Higgins), our outside centre, was outstanding.
“I am just a bit lost for words on that one. We certainly could have got a point.”
Puttock felt his team did show what they could do just before the half-time break.
“We went back to the structure we had been working on and were playing phases – and that’s when we are at our best,” he said.
“When we keep the ball, we look way better and more in control of the game.
“We haven’t got the players that can dominate all areas all the time, so we have to play to our strengths, and we did for that period (before half-time), but not afterwards.
“I didn’t have a go at the guys. We’ll take the positives and we’ll own it and work on it.
“This is a transition season.”
Ivybridge head coach Steve Atkinson said: “It was great to hear the seconds won again. It sounded like a really great effort from them.”
COUNTIES THREE
KIERAN HURRELL scored a try with the last play of the game, which Sam Matts converted, to secure a much-changed Old Techs side a thrilling 22-20 away win at Totnes on Saturday in Devon South & West.
“It was mental,” said Techs chairman David Evans. “We were 20-15 down with just 20 seconds to play.
“They messed something up and we got possession and we scored to make it 20 each. The last play of the game was the kick and Sammie Matts put it over.
“I thought we were going to lose it.
“But one to 15, we just ground it out. The players didn’t stop grafting all the way through.
“Totnes are not a bad team, and the game was very even.”
Billy Evans had scored Techs’ other two tries, with Matts adding two conversions and a penalty. His match-winning conversion was not an easy one in the conditions as it was halfway between the posts and the touchline.
There was also drama at the Parkway on Saturday, but not on the field.
The match between Tamar Saracens and Torquay Athletics II had to be postponed just before kick-off after the posts where the visitors were warming up fell down.
“I don’t really know what happened, but Torquay were training at that end when the posts fell down,” said Tamar Saracens vice-captain Lewis Swatton.
“Fortunately, no-one was hurt, but the game ended up getting called off.”
Plymouth Argaum were also left without a match in the same division after Kingsbridge II handed them a walkover.
That was one of two walkovers in the league as Plympton Victoria were also unable to get a team to travel to unbeaten leaders Brixham II.
Elsewhere, Plymstock Oaks II were beaten 34-8 away at Salcombe.
In Counties Three Cornwall, Saltash II enjoyed a big 48-24 home win over Roseland at Moorlands Lane, with winger Tom Knight leading the try-scoring.
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