PLYMSTOCK Oaks and Saltash will both need other teams to do them a favour if they are to avoid relegation from Western West.
Oaks lost 52-19 on Saturday at fourth-from-bottom Newton Abbot, who are now safe, while Saltash beat fellow relegation rivals Penryn 42-35 at Moorlands Lane, but frustratingly they allowed their Cornish rivals to come back from 32-0 down to grab two vital bonus points.
It means Oaks, Penryn and Saltash are all level on 42 points at the bottom with one week of the regular season to go, with two teams facing the drop. However, Penryn have the advantage of a game in hand away at Torquay Athletic, which will not be played until May 9.
Oaks visit Torquay in their final match, while Saltash, who have now won three home games in a row, host Newton Abbot and Penryn will entertain St Ives next Saturday.
Plymstock are currently out of the relegation zone courtesy of more wins than their rivals, but if Penryn win both their remaining games then it will be the Cornish side that stay up.
It is going to be a mad finish to a league that has proved so competitive and where the bottom team could end up with 47 points from 22 games.
“We have got ourselves in with a fighting chance and I am really proud of that,” said Saltash’s director of rugby Steve Down after Saturday’s victory over Penryn which pulled them level on points with their two relegation rivals.
“It is going to go right down to the wire.
“The fact that Penryn have a game two weeks after the season has finished against a team that are already safe does worry me a bit. It is just unfortunate.”
Saltash stormed into a 32-0 lead after just 33 minutes of Saturday’s match, but in the second half Penryn came back and they could have even snatched victory late on in another tense affair at Moorlands Lane.
“Even at 32-0 up I know with this league and the way it has all gone, that we weren’t going to be safe,” said Down.
“It was definitely a game of two halves, wasn’t it?
“It is a little bit disappointing they picked up two points as it could come back to bite us.
“But I was really proud of the boys for getting the win as we have come out on the wrong side of a lot of those games.
“To get the right side of the result is a really proud thing to do, especially at home on sponsors’ day.”
In the second half, Saltash just could not get hold of the ball as Penryn used their maul to great effect.
“Once they put it up their jumper it was hard to get the ball back off them,” admitted Down.
“The wind definitely played its part in the game. Both teams used the wind, slope and territory quite well.
“We looked absolutely electric in the first half.
“I was really, really pleased with the way we were playing. You could tell they really wanted to win and were really up for it.
“But it is an 80-minute game.
“And this is a hell of a league. Every time I have been in this league either playing or coaching it has always been tough and close and I would love us to stay in it.”
Saltash, playing down the slope first half, took the lead in the first minute against Penryn when scrum-half Jack Pritchard kicked a penalty.
And three minutes later they went 10-0 up when Lewis Woolaway, who had a big game at number eight, broke off a maul following a line-out to score a converted try in the left corner.
That was quickly followed by centre Greg Eatwell also scoring in the same corner after a kick through by James Moriarty caught Penryn out.
Pritchard then kicked another penalty to put Saltash 20-0 up.
And it got even better for the home side with two tries in four minutes.
Young forward Charlie Knight scored on the right after another kick forward had caused Penryn problems before hooker Fin Jones stormed down the left wing after Woolaway had put him clear to secure them the try-scoring bonus point.
But even the most loyal Saltash supporters were still not relaxed even at 32-0 after the way Western West has gone this season.
Penryn gave themselves some hope just before half-time with a catch-and-drive try from hooker Chris Hellier.
And they came out fired up for the second period and completely turned the game around with their catch-and-drive set-plays really causing the Ashes problems.
Hooker Hellier completed a hat-trick of tries with two from line-out moves in the opening 10 minutes of the second period.
Winger Jack Jones then scored from the next restart to move Penryn to within 10 points and their tails were really up.
But Moriarty did stop Penryn’s flow by scoring in the left corner following some good passing after the home side finally did get their hands on the ball. Prichard, who was in fine form with the boot, also added the tough conversion to make it 39-22.
However, that lead was quickly cut to just seven points with centre Billy Jordan and winger Jones scoring further tries for Penryn.
Prichard eased Saltash’s nerves with a penalty on 66 minutes to make it 42-32, but Tom Tanswell kicked one at the other end to make it a one-score game again.
Saltash then had Ryan Cruickshanks yellow carded and Penryn threw everything at them trying to get the win, but somehow the Ashes held on for the five points.
Plymstock Oaks had hoped to drag Newton Abbot into the relegation fight and boost their hopes of staying up by winning at Rackerhayes on Saturday.
They were only 17-12 down just after half-time, but Newton Abbot finished the game strongly and bagged eight tries to beat Oaks 52-19.
“We were in the game for most of it,” said Oaks coach Mike Lewis.
“I think there was only a score in it at half-time. It was very close for most of it.
“But the stuff we had practiced and stuff we have been doing, we just did the opposite.
“We scored a try in the corner that brought it back to two scores. It was 31-19 at that point and we were in the ascendancy. We said: ‘this is what we need to do off this kick-off’, but we did something different and it didn’t go very well and they scored.
“I think that was the turning point in the game as we had just got back into it.
“We could have done better throughout the game, but this was the point where we should have gone ‘we are going to runaround their big men a bit more and defend a bit more’. But we just sort of did the opposite.
“The biggest issue was we didn’t quiet listen to each other or work together. It was very much individual performances.”
Oaks took the lead at Rackerhayes with Duncan Bibby scoring a converted try, but Newton Abbot came back to lead 17-7 at the break.
However, Plymstock scored at the start of the second period courtesy of Charlie Dutton to make it 17-12.
Newton Abbot then went 31-12 up before Harvey Searle scored a converted try to give Oaks hopes.
But those hopes were quickly extinguished with the home side scoring three late tries.
COUNTIES TWO DEVON
OPMs made sure of a top-eight finish in Counties Two Devon after they beat Topsham II 54-52 in a try-fest at King George V Playing Fields on Saturday.
The Old Boys were 42-12 up at one point, but Topsham II came back and snatched two bonus points at the death.
“It was absolutely crazy,” said OPMs head coach James Digweed. “We were 47-22 up with 18 minutes to go, but standard OPMs we got tired and leaked a lot of points, however, we managed to hold on with tremendous heart.
“It was great for the boys and we’re buzzing to be safe whatever happens, but there are still somethings to work on.”
He added: “We were brilliant for the first 60 minutes but then took our foot of the pedal.”
On their VPs day and in front of a big crowd, Tom Rayner bagged a hat-trick of tries for OPMs.
There were also two tries each for Will Varley and Fred Smale, with Will Mills also touching down. Matt Smale kicked the rest of OPMs’ points.
There was an equally mad game at Withycombe where Ivybridge II, who are certain to finish in the bottom two, won 52-51.
Ivybridge, who were without a first team game, scored seven tries at Raleigh Park with Ben Winter, Aaron Joynt, Adam Lilley, Ed Lewis, Sid Bear and James Cantin among their scorers, with Matt Grieveson converting all seven tries and adding a penalty.
First team regulars Cantin, Lilley and Matt Finn were added to the Ivybridge II squad to cover for injuries and unavailabilities with their colts in a cup final.
“It was a good game of rugby in the end,” said Ivybridge head coach Steve Atkinson.
“Both sides were running the ball and trying to score as many points as they could.
“It could have gone either way, but I do think the fitness of our lads was slightly better than theirs and with about 10 minutes to go, I did think we might nick it.
“There were a few chirps of ‘we’re playing against a first team’ but it is what it is. We could have given them the game, not gone up there and then they’d have lost out on bar revenue, but we thought that wouldn’t be fair.
“We could have loaded the team, but I didn’t want to do that, so we just covered the couple of positions we needed instead and kept it predominantly our normal twos lads.”
Tavistock will be hoping that it is just two teams going down from the league this season as they could still finish third-from-bottom after losing 40-22 at home to South Molton on Saturday.
Tavistock will go into their final fixture sitting in ninth place two points ahead of Crediton II, who sit third-from-bottom.
Tavistock’s final game is away against champions Devonport Services II, while Crediton II host OPMs. Both Service and Crediton’s first teams have now finished their seasons.
Tavistock head coach Leigh Puttock was a bit frustrated that his team did not pick up at least a bonus point on Saturday. They did get three tries courtesy of Jai Popplewell, Oscar Slater and Andrew Schuttkacker but could not get a fourth.
“We were pounding their line when the whistle went,” said Puttock.
“We thought we were going to at least walkaway with a point, but hey-ho.
“We played some good rugby as we do every week.
“But we made a slow start and conceded within the first minute or so. We then got into our game and it was a good game of rugby. But it just did not go our way, that’s all.”
COUNTIES THREE DEVON SOUTH & WEST
THIRD-placed Old Techs bounced back in style from their shock defeat to Kingsbridge II the previous week by beating city rivals Plymouth Argaum 65-10 at Weston Mill.
“We just clicked,” said Techs chairman David Evans. “And we still have quite a few missing.
“We got 11 tries and backs got 10 of them, but it was just a good all-round performance.
“We had Ben Hockey back in the centre and that made a difference.
“It was just a great way to finish at home. The boys did really well and they played with real intensity.
Sam Matts scored four tries for Techs and also kicked five conversions, while Brett Tunnicliffe, Hockey and Kieran Hurrell all got two tries apiece, with Joe Bailey adding their other.
Stuart Giles and Dean Avery scored Argaum’s tries on a frustrating afternoon for them.
“It was disappointing,” said head coach Dean Avery. “We started the day with a couple of drop outs. Unfortunately, Jake Turfrey had to have his appendix out and Tom Holliday had to work, so we only had 16 plus myself.
“They (Techs) moved the ball very well and went through the phases, which shows they are a team training together.
“We couldn’t seem to string two or three phases together and kept giving the ball away and penalties away.
“Every time they moved the ball wide, they seemed to have an overlap, so congratulations to them. Whatever is going on down there, seems to be going well.”
Plymstock Oaks II had former Premiership star Will James turning out for them against Totnes on Saturday and he scored two tries as they won 55-26.
The former Wales international is preparing for a veterans match with his former Plymouth Albion team-mate Dan Parkes and they both featured in Oaks II’s pack on Saturday as they claimed their first win since the start of November.
There were also tries for Jerome Davies (2), Sam Brancroft (2), Sean Wills, Dan McKillop and Loe Sartori.
Plympton Victoria are set to finish bottom after losing 41-17 at home to fellow strugglers Kingsbridge II.
The two sides had started the day level on points, although Kingsbridge II have given sides three more walkovers that Plym Vic this season.
Plym Vic were winning at half-time on Saturday but just ran out of players.
“We were in front at half-time but by 20 minutes into the second half we were down to 12 players – and one of them was someone we scooped up off the sidelines,” said Plym Vic chairman Chris Hunt.
“We just got injured out of it.
“I think if we had managed to stay injury-free then we might have just pipped it.”
Fly-half Louie Ellison scored two tries for Plym Vic, with second-row Jack Higgleton also crossing the whitewash. Chris Barratt added two conversions.
All pictures are low resolution and are protected by copyright so should not be used without permission.