DEVONPORT Services produced a strong second half performance to beat Marlborough 31-16 away and maintain their lead at the top of Regional One South West.
Services had found themselves 16-7 down at the break to the second-from-bottom Wiltshire side, who rely heavily on army players of Fijian descent.
But, despite missing some key personnel, Devonport turned the game around in the second 40 minutes to pick up another five points to keep them two points ahead of Topsham, who were handed a walkover by bottom side Matson.
“We got the win and the five points, having been 16-7 down at half-time,” said Services head coach Ben Russell.
“They (Marlborough) played downhill first half and just ran it straight and ran it hard.
“But second half, they just ran out of gas a bit, and we scored three lovely tries right at the start of the second half and then scored a fifth with the last play of the game.”
He added: “They (Marlborough) were physical. They brought their big tight-head out of retirement and they had our scrum going backwards in the first half.
“But second half our boys just fronted up much better and played some lovely rugby.
“We wore them down and scored some nice tries and it could have been more – we did butcher a number of chances.”
Services, who were without backs Harrison Coonick, Dan Lilley, Tom Davies, Tom Richards, George Pooley and Jesse Lowe, handed a first league start to Sri Lankan Warren Weerakoon, while Matt Neyle also returned to the starting line-up, while Liam Jarvis was switched from the back-row to hooker.
The visitors were only able to manage one try in the first 40 minutes which came from scrum-half Richard West, which Sam Brown converted.
With Marlborough pressing hard in the opening period, Devonport did have Matt Gregory yellow carded as they found themselves trailing 16-7.
But they took hold of the game in the opening 15 minutes of the second period with three quick tries.
Weerakoon got the first of those when he scored in the corner after some patient play by the visitors.
The home side then picked up a yellow card themselves and Services made them pay with Neyle scoring after Devonport went wide after some good pick-and-go work. Sam Brown added the conversion to put his side 19-16 in front.
That was extended when Brown went over the whitewash himself after some good play by Gregory.
Services had further chances but didn’t take them. However, they did get a fifth try in the final minute when James Hocking made a good break and fed Charlie Groves to touch down.
In Regional Two South West, Ivybridge’s match at bottom club Wellington was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
COUNTIES ONE WESTERN WEST
PLYMSTOCK Oaks let a 19-8 lead slip as they were narrowly beaten 20-19 by Western West leaders Wiveliscombe at Horsham Fields on Saturday.
Oaks, who had been beaten by Kingsbridge and St Ives in their last two league matches, did look like they were going to cause a bit of a surprise, but two tries in the final 12 minutes secured the Somerset club the win.
Wiveliscombe had also survived a scare and won by just a single point at Saltash earlier in the season.
The visitors had taken an early lead, but Oaks levelled with a try by Will Scantlebury.
Wiveliscombe did kick a penalty to take an 8-5 lead at the break, but after the interval Oaks got on the front foot and scored two converted tries through front-rowers Tyrone Hancock and Joe Donnelly to go 11 points in front.
But Oaks, who had Ollie White yellow carded, were not able to hang on and a converted try in the 68th minute and another in the 73rd minute was enough for Wiveliscombe to take the four points back to Somerset and leave Oaks third from bottom.
For the first time this season, bottom side Saltash failed to pick up a point from a game as they were beaten 34-17 away at Redruth II.
The Ashes, who were missing the likes of Will Morton, Lewis Wells, Tom Hoban and Fin Jones, handed first league starts to Tom Knight and Jon Congdon.
And they found themselves behind after eight minutes when Nat Dart kicked a penalty for the home side.
The Reds’ forwards gradually took control and laid the platform for their hard running backs to probe the Ashes defence which managed to repel the home attacks.
However, after 27 minutes a line-out close to the Saltash line saw Lewis Bostock cross the whitewash to extend the home advantage with a converted try.
The visitors worked hard but without cohesion or seriously threatening to put any points on the board.
And their situation was not improved after they picked up a yellow card on 32 minutes which was quickly punished by a Redruth forward drive leading to the experienced Richard Brown scoring a try.
Saltash did hit back when lock Lewis Woolaway went over the Reds’ line for Jack Pritchard to add the extra points from near the touch line at the end of the first half to make it 15-7.
Redruth came out strongly in the second period and within two minutes scored a try through Fin Wolfstencroft and continued to dominate a Saltash side that were unable to get their backs into the game.
Following a penalty Redruth moved further ahead after 65 minutes with a converted try by Oli Wells to make it 27-7.
The Ashes valiantly fought back with rare attacks and eventually broke through the Redruth defence, with Lewis Stuart touching down to reduce the gap.
However, another converted try by Redruth wiped out any chance of a late Saltash recovery although Axel Nicks did get a final consolation try at the very end of the game.
COUNTIES TWO DEVON
FRED SMALE scored a hat-trick of tries as OPMs came back from 24-3 down to claim a 34-34 draw at home to Withycombe on Saturday.
The Old Boys could have actually snatched the victory after Fred Smale scored his final try late on, but his younger brother Matt, just missed with the conversion.
Both sides picked up three points for their efforts, and OPMs head coach James Digweed was satisfied with that after seeing his side trailing by 21 points after just 24 minutes of the game and then by 12 points with just 20 minutes to go.
“I’m quite happy,” he said. “We were 24-3 down after 20 minutes but have come back twice to get into the game.
“It was just a shame not to get the result at the end with the missed conversion, but we’ll take a draw and three points.”
Digweed admitted his team were not at the races at the beginning of the game.
“I think the boys were pretty honest with themselves; they weren’t up for it, and everyone was a bit lethargic,” said Digweed.
“It was a bit of shades of two years ago where we took 20 minutes to start any game.
“But we woke up and came back into it, and they all worked very hard. I was proud of everyone.”
Withycombe, who had also drawn last weekend with South Molton, took the lead after just 40 seconds at King George V Playing Fields when new Australian fly-half Cooper Love scored a try and his fellow countryman Tom Parker added the conversion.
The visitors should have scored a second try less than two minutes later but they knocked on right on the try line.
OPMs did finally get some pressure and in the 11th minute Fred Smale kicked a penalty to make it 7-3.
But almost from the restart, Withycombe scored a second try when winger Ben Dawson went over in the left corner after they took a quick tap penalty and attack wide.
OPMs were not really at the races in the opening quarter; they were unable to get any sustained pressure and struggled with their line-out.
And Withycombe scored two tries within the space of two minutes courtesy of another from winger Dawson and one from another Australian arrival, second-row Josh Galbraith. That made it 24-3.
But after that OPMs finally woke up and started to keep hold of the ball and use their strong scrum to get them on the front foot.
They got back into the game when Fred Smale scored their first try after he gathered a clever chip kick from his brother and beat the last man to touch down on the left.
Prop Myles Connell had a try disallowed for the Old Boys for a forward pass, but the home side did get a second try when Fred Smale scored again after good play from a scrum. He dropped kicked the conversion to make it 24-15.
And in first-half injury-time, OPMs got a third try courtesy of flanker Aiden McCarthy, which Fred Smale converted, to leave them just two points behind at the break.
However, Withycombe started the second half like the first and scored two tries within the opening seven minutes to go 34-22 in front. Cody Kane got the first of those before full-back Joel Ranft crossed in the left corner.
The game was then stopped midway through the second half due to a nasty knee injury to a Withycombe player and the fixture was eventually moved to another pitch.
Four minutes after the re-start, Matt Smale scored a try near the posts after some intense pressure and his brother added the conversion to leave OPMs just five points behind.
The home side suddenly got their tails up again and Withycombe gave away a couple of silly penalties and eventually Fred Smale scored his third try of the game, while the visitors were handed a yellow card for trying to stop the move illegally.
Fred Smale did pick up a slight injury while scoring so let his brother take the conversion, but he could not put it over.
Despite fading light, there was still time for both clubs to try and find a winning score, but neither could and both were pretty satisfied with three points.
Devonport Services II took advantage of Topsham II not playing to move back to the top of the table with a hard-earned 27-21 away win at South Molton on Saturday.
Front-rower James McFarlane scored two tries for the visitors after dropping down from the first team.
Fellow front-rower Yianni Costas also managed to get over the whitewash on a heavy pitch, as did backs Sam Fincham and Owen Kerswell.
Services II had gone 12-0 up with touch-downs by McFarlane and Kerswell, but South Molton pulled one back before the break to make the half-time score 12-7.
After the interval, South Molton went 14-12 ahead, but Fincham then restored Services II’s lead.
The home side, who had started the day in fifth spot, hit back again to go 21-17 in front, but tries by Costas and McFarlane sealed the five points for the visitors.
Ivybridge II were denied a third league victory in four games right at the death as Honiton triumphed 38-37 at Cross-in-Hand on Saturday.
The Ivybridge side, better known as the Vandals, were 37-24 up going into the final five minutes, but somehow Honiton managed to dig deep and scored two late tries, with Jonny House holding his nerve to add the conversion that won his side the game.
The home side started well and went 21-5 up thanks to tries by Owen Alp, Aaron Joynt and Owen Garner, with Luke Martell converting all three tries.
But Ben Spence scored a converted try for Honiton to make it 21-12 at half-time and after the interval Rhys Phillips added another for the visitors.
They then went 24-21 in front with another try by Spence, but the east Devon side picked up a yellow card and Martell kicked a penalty to level the game and then Ivybridge went 37-24 ahead with a converted try by Callum Hall and a penalty and drop goal from Martell.
However, James Coutts-Tucker gave Honiton hope with a converted try six minutes from time and then in the final minute Finn Parratt crossed and House added the extras to break Ivybridge’s hearts.
Tavistock remain in the bottom three after they lost 26-0 away at Crediton II with a makeshift team.
The Sandy Park club, playing their third consecutive away match, were without a host of players and were unable to return with anything in muddy conditions at Crediton.
“We played some really good rugby for large parts of the second half,” insisted head coach Leigh Puttock.
“I think territory was about 50-50 in the first half, but it was probably 75-25 to us in the second half, but after the last two weeks, I don’t think we had the confidence to make five or 10 minutes of pressure on their line into a try.
“I think it literally was just about confidence.
“You cannot say anything bad about the guys; they all stuck at it, but it just didn’t come off.
“Fair play to Crediton, they knew how to play their pitch.
“They went the full length of the field for their bonus point try and fair play to them, but it was just really down to confidence.”
He added: “It is going to take a real massive effort to get our confidence back.
“Three weeks away like that is demoralising.
“But as always, we will own it. We are not going to shout and ball that we were the better team, as the better team in rugby will always win, so fair play to Crediton.
“We’ll go on to next week and we have seven days to try and develop some confidence.”
COUNTIES THREE
PLYMOUTH Argaum stayed in second place in Devon South & West after they edged out third-placed Paignton II 19-10 at Bickleigh Down on Saturday.
A late try by Jake Turfrey sealed the win for Argaum, who had been 14-3 up at half-time thanks to tries by Tom Worboys and Dan Smith.
“Paignton were a really good side – really strong up front and well organised,” said Argaum head coach Dean Avery.
“They surprised us in the scrum first half. We brought Jabs (Will Lloyd) on and he managed to turn the scrum around, which was important on a day like it was. That gave us the chance to get on the front foot.
“We were 14-3 up at half-time, but it got close with Paignton pulling it back to 14-10, but we pulled away with Jake Turfrey scoring in the last five minutes to seal the win.
“We didn’t get a bonus point, but it was against a really strong Paignton side.”
The down side for Argaum was that Adam Walker suffered a nasty looking lower leg injury in the opening minutes and had to go to hospital.
In the same division, Plymstock Oaks II handed leaders Brixham a walkover, while Plympton Victoria also handed Tamar Saracens one.
Old Techs were not in league action, but they played OPM Jesters in the Ellis Trophy and beat then 61-17 at Weston Mill.
The visitors had actually taken the lead and Techs were only 21-5 in front at half-time, but they ran in six second half tries to finish as comfortable winners.
Kieran Hurrell bagged a hat-trick of tries for Techs, with Josh O’Hare, Billy Evans, Johnny Young, Ryan Smith, Ollie Davey and Sam Matts also touching down, while Matts added eight conversions.
In Counties Three Cornwall, Saltash II were beaten 47-15 away at Illogan Park.
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