REGIONAL ONE SOUTH WEST

SAM BROWN kicked a late long-range penalty as Devonport Services claimed a nail-biting 22-21 victory away at in-form St Austell on Saturday.

The win means Services will head into the new year top of Regional One South West, just one point ahead of Topsham.

Devonport really did have to dig deep for the four points at a windy Treggorrick Park against a side that had not lost since early November.

The home club were 14-7 up at half-time. However, Services then went 19-14 ahead after the interval, only for St Austell to come back and go 21-19 in front with time running out.

But with three minutes to go, the visitors were awarded a penalty on the 10-metre line out wide and Brown had the confidence to go for the kick.

It looked like his effort might miss or fall short, but, fortunately for Services, the wind helped it drop over the cross-bar and put them a point in front.

And Devonport were able to survive the final couple of minutes to avoid a major banana skin.

“It was a real battle,” admitted Services head coach Ben Russell.

“They (St Austell) have been on a good run and were unbeaten in seven.

“They played the territory well and ran hard.

“In the first half, they were more physical than us and really wanted it. They scored a couple of tries from mistakes from us.

“But the boys really knuckled down in the second half and now that rest over Christmas will be cracking.

“It is nice to be at the top at Christmas.

“The boys battled and we played well in parts, and we did enough to get over the line.”

St Austell, played up the slope first half but had the wind advantage, and they took a 14-7 lead into the break thanks to a maul try by Pete Harris and a long-range effort down the left wing by Dan Navas.

Services’ only points in the first half came from Matt Gregory, who picked up from the base of a scrum and charged his way over the line for a try, which Brown converted.

After the interval, centre Dan Lilley pulled Services level with a converted effort after the home side had been reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes after intense pressure from the visitors at a scrum.

Then prop Oli Symons gave Devonport the lead with a unconverted try from a catch-and-drive move.

But winger Archie Bees scored a good individual effort down the right to edge his side back in front, only for Brown to break the home club’s hearts.

REGIONAL TWO SOUTH WEST

IVYBRIDGE’S wait for an away win goes on after they were beaten 29-22 by Teignmouth at Bitton Park.

The Bridgers have not won on their travels for more than a year, and they made the worse possible starts in south Devon and found themselves 29-0 down at half-time.

They did hit back in the second period, but in the end, had to settle for just a bonus point rather than a victory.

“It was a tale of two halves,” said Ivybridge head coach Steve Atkinson.

“They started fairly strong and got two quick tries.

“We managed to steady it a bit but got pinged off the park in the first half and went in 29-0 down.

“We actually played some really good rugby, but we just couldn’t get on the right side of the ref.

“At half-time, I didn’t need to make any adjustments, I just said to the boys we just need to fron tup here, make our tackles and our attack will do the rest.

“And we scored three unanswered tries, but time just ran out for us, so we took three points at the end with 20 seconds to go and came away with a bonus point.

“I said to the boys after that I was just really happy with how we responded and it showed with the tries we scored in the second half.

“Our man of the match was probably Adam Lilley – all our attack ran through him in the second half.”

Jamie Campbell, Tom Scoles and Jack Skinner scored tries for Ivybridge with Charlie Teague adding two conversions and Harry Newman-Wild kicking their late penalty.

The defeat has dropped Ivybridge down to sixth in the standings, but they are only seven points off second place.

COUNTIES ONE WESTERN WEST

SALTASH and Plymstock Oaks both claimed vital wins to end the year on a high and boost their hopes of climbing the Western West table in 2026.

After so many near misses, Saltash claimed their first victory since early September by beating Penryn 33-12 away to move of the foot of the table.

Oaks, meanwhile, moved up to third from bottom in a tight league with a 52-29 home success over Newton Abbot.

Saltash and Oaks’ wins have congested the league even more, with just 10 points now separating sixth-placed Truro from bottom club Penryn.

Saturday’s away victory was a massive boost for Saltash, who had lost an incredible seven matches in the opening few months of the season by just one single score.

It was their first win on their travels since their return to Western West and they are now within touching distance of a mid-table place.

Ever-green winger Will Morton led the way for Saltash with a hat-trick of tries at the Memorial Ground, but it was a real team effort by the visitors, who were without a number of key players.

With backs Ryan Cruickshanks, Greg Eatwell and Todd Crofts among those not available, Saltash handed only a second first team appearance to young fly-half Dylan Davies and moved Billy Dover to full-back and paired forward Lewis Wells with Andrew Walsh in the centre spots.

Penryn, playing with the wind at their backs, got off to a strong start and were ahead after three minutes with a try on the left wing.

But a determined Ashes side came back and, as their forwards rolled forward, Tom Hoban touched down to draw the visitors level eight minutes later.

Penryn looked dangerous but a charged down kick in the Saltash half allowed Morton, who had an excellent match on the wing, to collect the ball and run through the home defence to score in the corner after 17 minutes. That put the Ashes 10-5 ahead.

A penalty four minutes later by Jack Pritchard extended their advantage.

Further pressure by Saltash enabled Morton to get his second try of the game on the half hour to stamp their authority as they continued to dominate Penryn.

Following a penalty, the Ashes. moved the ball across the pitch and Lewis Woolaway was on hand to finish off the first half with his side’s bonus point-try to give the visitors a well-earned 23-5 interval lead.

As the second half commenced the driving rain started and worsened the conditions, but an unrelenting Ashes continued to keep control.

Morton stormed through to score a try under the posts for Jack Pritchard to add the extra points on 53 minutes and move the visitors further in front.

Penryn pressed the Saltash line, but the visiting side’s defence held out until the 71st minute when the home side scored a converted try.

A Penryn forward then received a yellow card but a penalty by fly-half Davies finished the Saltash scoring and gave them an emphatic victory and a welcomed five points.

It was an excellent Saltash display producing a very good controlled team performance with youngster Davies outstanding and Hoban solid at lock forward. Dover was safe at full-back and Morton was back to his best with a hat-trick of tries.

Plymstock Oaks also turned on the style in their pre-Christmas outing, scoring eight tries against Newton Abbot to end a run of four league defeats.

Ollie White and Will Scantlebury both scored two tries apiece, with Jack Tweedie, Zach Gilbert, Nathan Akers and Charlie Watson also touching down. Lewis Paterson added six conversions.

“It was one of those games where we accelerated ahead early, but at the start of the second half we missed a couple of tackles and they had a few good attacks and scored a couple of tries to bring themselves right back into it,” said Oaks coach Mike Lewis.

“We were 31-17 up or something like that and then suddenly it was 31-27, but then we scored a few at the end to cap it off.

“It was a bit nerve-wracking to be fair for the players, supporters and coaches.

“It was an end-to-end game and a great spectacle at the end of the year. However, I would have loved it to be a bit easier.”

He added: “The players needed that result, the coaches needed it and everyone who comes and watches every week needed it.

“Even if it had just been by one point, it was just about winning.

“We were really good but just made a few errors here and there and we maybe could have scored a few more.

“The players have been working really hard. It has been wet, windy and muddy on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, but boys are still training, still committed and know we are better than the results we have been getting. They believe it and the coaches believe it, and this weekend we finally showed it after three or four weeks of not getting a result.”

COUNTIES TWO DEVON

DEVONPORT Services II will go into the new year at the top of Counties Two Devon after they were handed a walkover by struggling Dartmouth.

The South Hams club were going to try and make the trip to Keyham on Friday night to play a ‘game-on’ fixture, but in the end they were unable to get enough players for that.

With second-placed Bideford slipping up against Exeter Saracens on Saturday, Services II have a seven-point lead at the halfway mark, although third-placed Topsham II, who are eight points behind, do have a game in hand.

Topsham II beat a makeshift OPMs side 45-10 at Bonfire Field on Saturday.

The Old Boys were missing a host of players, including stars Fred and Matt Smale.

“I think we only had about four or five regular first teamers,” admitted OPMs head coach James Digweed.

“Our chairman even started and he had the flu as well.

“We had 25 players unavailable, but we didn’t want to lose the five points so we went with a scratch team.

“We actually scored first and we thought we might get a bonus point, but it was not to be.”

OPMs were awarded a penalty try early after Billy Garrett was tackle out with a high tackle as he looked like he was going to score, while Pete Regan added their other points with a penalty kick.

Tavistock also had a tough Christmas away outing as they were beaten 62-0 at South Molton.

The Moorlanders were missing forwards Hammy Kerswill, Vaughan Glover, Toby Teague and Tylo Coupland, but did have backs Liam Watts, Sheldon Higgins and Jack Easton.

They also included colts Joel Shears, Billy Sherman and Maxwell Haddy in their first team squad for the first time.

“It was another tough away game,” said Tavistock head coach Leigh Puttock.

“South Molton are a very well-drilled team.

“But we had some big positives, although I’m not going to say we deserved to win when we didn’t.

“I will take it on the chin as in training we have backed off defence a bit. That’s down to me, not the players, and we need to get back and re-work on that.

“But we had some bright young performances and there will be others who will be saying ‘let’s go away for a re-set and put this first half of the season behind us’.

“But who wants to do a one-and-three-quarter hour drive to South Molton on a wet day on the Saturday before Christmas? I think any team would struggle with that.

“However, the lads never gave up.

“Joel Shears was our joint best performer on the day. When you have lost by that many points it sounds a bit silly to say a man of the match, but there were two massive performances, one from Jai Popplewell, who is in the twilight of his career, and the other one was Joel, who is right at the start of his career, but they shared our best player.”

Despite the heavy defeat, Shears really enjoyed his first taste of senior men’s rugby.

“I loved it,” he said.

“I played the full 80 minutes so I definitely tipped my toes in the water.

“There were some big boys on that pitch, but I gave it what I could.

“It was my first game for the first team, and I was happy with what I did.”

Tavistock stay third from bottom, but they now are only four points above second-from-bottom Ivybridge II, who beat Withycombe 29-25 at Cross-in-Hand on Saturday.

That was their third win in six games and gives them hope of staying up.

Josh Hughes, Connor Archer, Alex Percival and Ryan Cox scored their tries in the bonus-point win, with Luke Martell kicking three conversions and a penalty.

“It’s a very good win,” said Ivybridge head coach Steve Atkinson. “Hopefully, we can carry that on into the new year and start moving up a few places.”

COUNTIES THREE DEVON SOUTH & WEST

OLD Techs claimed their first league win against Plymouth Argaum at Bickleigh Down in 13 years as they triumphed 21-8 on Saturday.

Argaum have had the better of recent meetings and had won 55-13 at Weston Mill in the RFU Cup back in October.

But since that defeat, Techs have found a bit of form and deservedly won on Saturday, with their scrum and forward pack particularly impressing.

“We were really up for it and I think we just wanted it more than them,” said Techs chairman David Evans.

“We just dominated them in the scrum and we were strong through the middle.”

Techs were also helped by an impressive debut from former Saltash player James Smith-Jones, who started at scrum-half.

He scored in the first half, as did Billy Evans to give Techs a 10-8 half-time lead.

In the second half, Rudi Baker broke off a maul to score a third try, while Sam Matts kicked two penalties.

Argaum’s points came from a try by Jerry Masuwale and a penalty by Cheyanne Edwards.

“Old Techs were a completely different side to the one we played down there (at Weston Mill in the RFU Cup). They offered a lot more, certainly up front,” said Argaum head coach Dean Avery.

“Their scrum was a lot stronger than ours.

“We just didn’t front up and that’s what has cost us the game.

“We had the really strong wind first half, but second half they used it a lot better than us. They put us down in the right areas.”

He added: “We had players missing again. Every week we have a different team, but it is what it is.

“And unfortunately, the game finished a few minutes early because Andy Milne, one of our players, suffered a bad neck injury.”

The win has moved Techs up to sixth in the table and they are just four points off third place.

Argaum stay in fourth place, three points above Techs.

Totnes have moved up to fifth after they beat Plymstock Oaks II 69-0.

Plympton Victoria claimed their first points of the season as they drew 21-21 away with fellow strugglers Kingsbridge II.

Jack Higgleton, who was forced to move to centre from flanker due to unavailabilities, Chris Barratt and Dan Bulley scored tries for Plym Vic at High House, with Barratt also kicking two penalties.

Plym Vic chairman Chris Hunt was delighted his team ended their losing run, but could not help thinking that it could easily have been a win had they not had so many players missing.

“They (Kingsbridge) had a very strong scrummage – their scrum was superb – but we had people out of position – our backline was mainly made up of forwards – and we had to call on some old stagers to help us out,” said Hunt.

“A couple of their scores came straight off our mistakes. We knocked the ball on from the kick-off and they charged up field and scored. If only we could have just tidied up that first bit of initial possession.

“But both teams really worked hard at it and our lads played bloody well; they played superbly considering it was a little bit of a scratch side.

“Yet even with a scratch side we scored three tries and came so close to winning the game, which shows we can play rugby when we want and put our minds to it. We just need to do it more often.

“There were some little victories there and we got a couple of points in the bag. It would have been nice just to have pipped them at the last, but we just couldn’t quite get there, but the lads did fantastically well”

Tamar Saracens could not surprise unbeaten league leaders Brixham II at the Parkway, despite the tricky conditions.

Brixham II won the match 50-7 after Sarries had initially taken the lead with a try by captain Adam Corbett following some good forward play and a Lewis Swatton conversion.

Brixham were 23-7 up and half-time but pulled well away in the second period.

“When they (Brixham) got the ball they used it well,” said Corbett. “They went around the outside of us and used the field well.

“We did play really well for the first 15 minutes but then they realised they needed to throw the ball around. They showed that they deserve to be the top of the league.”

Corbett was keen to praise the club’s ground manager for getting the pitch playable after all the heavy rain during the week and a number of players who answered a call to play on the day.

“We had a lot of changes on the morning as five dropped out,” he said. “But we managed to get other guys in.”

The defeat did drop Sarries down to eighth in the standings, but they do have a game in hand on most of the other sides.

All pictures courtesy of Joseph Smith