DEVONPORT Services’ wait for a win in National Two West continues as they were beaten 54-33 away at Cinderford on Saturday.
However, Services, who were missing a number of key players, did pick up a valuable try-scoring bonus point in Gloucestershire after a strong second half performance.
They had found themselves trailing 35-7 at the break but they did make a game of it after the interval.
“We left ourselves too much to do in the first half,” said head coach Ben Russell.
“We entered their 22 on six occasions but came home with zero points. We were trying to force the pass, knocked on or were penalised for holding on.
“Our defence was actually really good in general play.
“And we came back and won the second half. We did some really good stuff and scored some lovely tries, but it was just their tries off first phase were a little bit too easy.
“The big positives were Henry Gascogne and James Thorpe were outstanding after coming up from the twos. Henry Clement was brilliant. We did have some boys that really stepped up and were good.”
Scrum-half Clement bagged a hat-trick of tries at Dockham Road, with one in the first half and two in the second period.
There was also a first try in Services colours for lock Lewis Woolaway, with Charlie Groves bagging their other in the Forest of Dean.
Cinderford scored eight tries with Sean Gardner claiming three, Callum McCabe two and Reilly Scriver, Matthew Cotton and Josh Horrobin grabbing their others.
REGIONAL TWO SOUTH WEST
IVYBRIDGE returned empty handed from their trip to Wadebridge on Saturday as they were beaten 41-25 by the Cornish side.
The Bridgers had opened their season with a home victory over last season’s runners-up Tiverton.
But they just fell short this weekend against a Wadebridge side who finished third last term and are notoriously good at home.
The game was in the reckoning until late on, but the Cornish side just pulled away at the end.
“We’re a bit disappointed with the result,” said Ivybridge head coach Steve Atkinson.
“It was a brilliant first half that showed both teams will be up there this year.
“It was 12-10 at half-time to them and I thought we managed to turn the tide going into the second half.
“We scored first after the kick-off, but then silly penalties and a defence that wasn’t our norm let them in.
“A couple more decisions went against us and the scoreline at the end looked like they ran away with it.
“We couldn’t get on the right side of the ref at all in the second half, but I can’t fault the effort from the boys.
“We just have to move on to next week and hopefully we can put some wrongs from this week right then.”
Harry Newman-Wild had put Ivybridge ahead with an early penalty but Wadebridge hit back with two tries before Owen Garner reduced the gap at half-time to 12-10 with a converted touch-down.
After the interval, Joe Owen put Ivybridge in front, but Wadebridge responded to make it 19-15.
Ivybridge again went back in front with scrum-half James Cantin scoring and Newman-Wild adding the conversion, but two tries by the home team put them 31-22 ahead.
Newman-Wild kicked a penalty to make it a one-score game again, but Wadebridge sealed the win with a penalty and a late try.
COUNTIES ONE WESTERN WEST
SALTASH narrowly fell short in their first home game of the season as they were edged out 33-30 by old rivals St Ives in front of a bumper crowd at Moorlands Lane.
The Ashes had chances to snatch the victory at the death after the Saints found themselves down to 13 players, but the home side just could not get over the whitewash to secure the victory.
However, they did pick up two bonus points from the thrilling contest, and they will know from last year that bonus points can be vital come the end of the season.
On their VPs day, Saltash started strongly and were on the board early after hooker Fin Jones dived over for the try, which scrum-half Jack Pritchard converted.
The new look Saltash side got into their stride and a free-flowing move put veteran winger James Moriarty over for a try, which Pritchard converted.
But St Ives closed the gap at half-time to 14-11 with a well-taken try and two penalties.
Saltash extended their lead to 19-11 after the interval with another try by Moriarty.
But then the Saints enjoyed a real purple patch and went 30-19 ahead.
Saltash closed the gap with two penalties by Pritchard before prop Liall Honey capped a fine performance with a try.
St Ives added a penalty to go 33-30 in front, but even though the visitors ended with 13 men, Saltash just could not get the try that would win them the game.
Devonport Services II had a tough afternoon as they were beaten 42-19 away at early leaders Cullompton on Saturday.
Services II managed three tries courtesy of Sam Fincham, Issac Venner and Luke Stannard but they were not able to get a fourth to at least return with a point.
“It was a bit frustrating we didn’t get a fourth try and that bonus point, but we had to nick four of the second team starting pack for the ones this week and we had some boys missing in the backline as well,” said Services head coach Ben Russell.
“It’s a positive that we didn’t roll over.
“They were big and physical and have come down from the league above. They will be up there come the end of the year.”
COUNTIES TWO DEVON
PLYMSTOCK Oaks are the early leaders of Counties Two Devon after they scored 12 tries to beat South Molton 76-28 at Horsham Fields on Saturday.
The previous week they had put 52 points on Brixham II and are already looking like favourites to go back up to Western West.
Nine of their tries and eight of their conversions came from summer signings.
Brandon Bonsor led the way with a hat-trick of touch-downs. There were also two apiece for Toby Moss and Al Thomas, with their others coming from Ben Street, Alex Chapman, Aiden Taylor, Lewis Paterson and Matt Neyle, with Richard West converting eight of them.
Oaks really came out fired up and stormed into a 19-0 lead after less than eight minutes.
They changed ends 45-14 up, scoring seven tries in the opening 40 minutes, with five more coming after the break.
“It was really good,” said coach Mike Lewis.
“We had a really good start and pushed the boundaries early on. We tried to get around them and play outside, and we did that quite consistently early doors.
“The only thing is we did pick up a few injuries, but hopefully they are not serious.”
OPMs secured their first points of the season as they beat Plymouth Combination rivals Tavistock 37-19 at King George V Playing Fields on Saturday.
The game was actually closer than the scoreline suggests and with 10 minutes to go, it looked like Tavistock might get at least two points out of the game with their scrum totally dominating.
But the visitors, who had made a really slow start to the contest, could not turn their pressure into points and OPMs made them pay with a late converted try and a penalty.
The home team, who handed debuts to former Ivybridge back Aaron Joynt and lock Will Waldron, did dominate the first half, with Tavistock gifting them too much territory early on with silly mistakes.
Full-back Joynt marked his debut with a try after just four minutes before Will Brooksbank was awarded a try in the corner six minutes later, despite appearing to knock-on as he scored.
With Tavistock making a lot of mistakes, OPMs, despite having problems with their line-out, went 19-0 up with the influential Fred Smale scoring in the corner.
But Tavistock did finally start to settle, and they pulled a try back before the break when Ollie James went over on the left after good play from a line-out on the right.
In front of a big crowd, OPMs got their fourth try right at the start of the second half when Fred Smale scored a fine try on the left.
But then for the next 20 minutes it was all Tavistock.
The visitors had chance after chance, but OPMs somehow defended their line well, despite getting pushed back time after time in the scrum.
After winning a number of penalties on OPMs’ line, Tavistock did finally get the try they threatened from a scrum with number eight Jim Wellard touching down.
With Tavistock turning up the pressure, Matt Smale kicked a penalty to edge his side three scores ahead, but that was quickly wiped out by an interception try by Liam Watts.
Watts managed to kick forward a loose OPMs pass and won the race to gather and run the length of the field. Freddie Fuller drop-kicked the conversion to make it 27-19.
But a try by OPMs’ lively scrum-half Will Mills four minutes from time put the game beyond Tavistock’s reach.
And in injury-time, with Tavistock still looking for a bonus point, they missed touch with a penalty and then the home team were awarded one at the other end.
Matt Smale, who along with his brother, was influential for OPMs, decided to take the kick and run the clock down to deny Tavistock the chance of one more play to try and get a point.
OPMs were pleased with their win, but head coach Davy McGregor, who came on in the closing stages, knows his team have to improve their line-out and scrum.
“I think we should have done a lot more, but that’s just me,” he said afterwards.
“We know they (Tavistock) are used to sticking in the fight and our scrum and line-out were unfortunately non-existent, but that was down to having to make four changes from Thursday.
“But the main thing is, it’s a win, so we’re happy.
“And it was great that the club put out three teams – the Jesters, colts and seniors – that’s over 100 players at the ground.”
Tavistock head coach Leigh Puttock said: “We will own it, which I know we say every week, but I think we did make them look better than they were.
“Matt Smale was outstanding for them, but our defence was shocking and in attack we left at least 15 points out there.
“It is simple things and we did a lot of basics terribly.
“We started badly by having players leave late and they didn’t get here on time.
“Our set-piece was outstanding, but when you keep dropping the ball in vital areas or not staying deep enough to take a pass, then what are you going to do?
“I was very disappointed. I think the feeling is that we lost that rather than them winning it, but that’s just my opinion and I’m sure they will think differently.
“At least I know what we need to work on.”
COUNTIES THREE
OLD TECHS, Plymouth Argaum and Ivybridge II all made it two wins out of two in Counties Three Devon South & West.
Old Techs followed up their 47-18 win at Dartmouth on the opening day by beating city rivals Plymstock Oaks II 39-12 on Saturday at Weston Mill.
Techs made a really good start to the match and went 27-0 up after just 28 minutes.
Oaks II, who included Olly Whitfield, Duncan Bibby and Lew Harris in their back line, did close the score to 27-12 at the break. However, Techs added a couple more tries in the second period to seal the win.
Brett Tunnicliffe and Ollie Davey both scored twice for Techs, with Lewis Tunnicliffe and Ryan Smith also touching down and Sam Matts kicked three conversions and a penalty.
Oaks II’s tries came from Dan Jewell and Tom Fitzpatrick, who also added a conversion.
“They (Oaks) had quite a good team out, but our boys really stood up,” said Techs chairman David Evans.
“It was very pleasing, especially the first half when we played some really good rugby.
“Their backs were really good, but we just defended well, which was a real positive for us.
“There is a good buzz around the club.”
Plymouth Argaum backed up their victory over Salcombe on the opening week with a narrow 24-23 home victory over last season’s runners-up Paignton II at Bickleigh Down.
Dan Smith scored a try in the last minute to secure the victory for Argaum, who were missing a number of players.
Herbie Owen, Rory McCarthy and Ellery Jones scored their other tries as they picked up a full five points.
“It was a very hard, close-fought game of rugby that could have gone either way,” said Argaum head coach Martyn Hendy.
“Big Ryan (McKibbin), our number eight, was injured and that lost us a bit of go-forward and we were also missing Jake Turfrey, but the boys that we had available did a really good job.
“Paignton gave us a really good, hard game of rugby and it was very close.
“It was a really good game to watch. A fair result would have probably been a draw. It was just one of those where we were lucky enough to get the last try.”
He added: “Training this week was really good and it meant we could take it on to the pitch.
“Our discipline and defence were fantastic, but their defence was equally good.”
Ivybridge II, who have come down from Counties Two Devon, followed up their 76-7 opening day win over Kingsbridge II with an 85-7 home victory over Totnes on Saturday.
Owen Alp scored a hat-trick of tries for the home team, with Matt Gilbury, Owen Williams and Matt Skeemer touching down twice apiece and Sam Wilmington, Craig Julian, Ryan Currie and Al Percival adding their others. Luke Martell finished the day with 10 conversions.
“From what I was told, the boys were professional and kept at it even when the score tipped over massively in our favour,” said Ivybridge head coach Steve Atkinson.
“It looks like it’s going to be a league where there will be two or three at the top and the rest looking to scrape some wins against those clubs.
“The good thing is those teams will still have the opportunity to have a few good games of rugby against each other which is what it’s all about at the end of the day.”
Tamar Saracens, who had beaten Plympton Victoria 77-0 at home on the opening day, were disappointed to narrowly lose 22-19 away at Salcombe on Saturday.
“The first 20-25 minutes, I think we were still in Plymouth. We didn’t play very well,” said Saracens’ Pete Lethbridge.
“It was a disappointing game but at least we got a bonus point, yet a draw would have been better.
“But it might be the kick up the bum the players need.”
Sarries narrowly trailed 7-6 at the break with Hayden Coles kicking two penalties for the visitors.
But Salcombe went 17-6 up after the interval with Sarries’ defence just letting them down.
Lewis Swatton got them back into it with a try down the wing, but he pulled his calf in the process and had to come off.
Salcombe went 22-11 in front, before a Coles penalty and a try by Robbie Fowler gave Tamar Saracens hope, but they just could not snatch it at the death.
Plympton Victoria were beaten 56-35 at home by Kingsbridge II in an entertaining affair at St Mary’s Field.
Both teams had good availability and 13 tries were scored in the contest.
Daniel Ball, Byron Poole, Connor Rouse, Mitchell Rushforth and James Bore touched down for Plym Vic, with Chris Barratt converting them all.
In Counties Three Cornwall, Saltash II were beaten 68-19 away at early leaders Veor.
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