Tribute South West One West

Clevedon 29,

Ivybridge 34

Ivybridge's first XV warmed up for tomorrow's promotion clash with a hard-fought win away at Clevedon last Saturday writes Tim Leigh.

First team coach Neil Thomson had spoken about his wish that the side keep their momentum going, and this was fulfilled as a late try from debutant Toby Evans gave an experimental Ivybridge side a 29-34 win.

The character that could well propel this side to consecutive promotions shone through as they fought back from 17-7 down at half-time, with Max Snowden's try, converted by Matt Grieveson, their only joy of the half.

Tries from second row Dom Loomes and flanker Alex 'Reggie' Hall, one converted, plus a penalty from Grieveson, looked to have turned a topsy-turvy game on its head at 17-22.

Clevedon, though, had other ideas.

They came roaring back to retake the lead with a try brace and were looking comfortable with a 29-22 lead and only 10 minutes left.

Lewis Paterson went over after a rolling maul to tie the scores up, and with just two minutes on the clock Evans decided he might as well be the hero to cap off a fantastic game, beating defenders for fun as he sprinted 80 metres to mark his first start in some style.

Looking ahead to tomorrow's winner takes all clash with Old Towcestrians, Thomson confirmed there were no new injury worries and confessed the players were itching to get out on the field.

He said: 'We've no injury worries really, we were sensible last weekend. We'll see how Tom Scoles gets on this week, he's got the all clear from the physio, we just want to see how he reacts to some physical testing, hopefully he'll come through.

'The boys are buzzing, they can't wait. It's our 40th anniversary next season and we could well be only two leagues below Plymouth Albion, which is amazing.

'We'll give it our best shot, we've achieved more than we thought we would this season.

'You look back at the season and just think crikey. The word this season was development, and we managed that faster than we expected.

'We look back at the games we lost, we could quite easily have won three of them and ended up getting promoted automatically.

'We wanted to keep our momentum, we took up two-thirds of our first team and four or five peripheral players, including Toby Evans, who probably scored the try of the season. We'll go up on the Friday night, we've got a coach load of supporters coming up on Saturday, we're hoping for a good crowd.

'We've done a bit of homework on them, I spoke to the boss of Chippenham, former Plymouth Albion captain Danny Thomas, who played them a couple of weeks ago. We'll see how it goes, hopefully we'll be celebrating come 4.30pm.'

Meanwhile, the second XI, the super twos, signed off their merit table campaign in style with an emphatic win over near-neighbours Devonport at Cross-in Hand.

This win sets them up perfectly for their Lockie Cup final on April 29 at Devonport's home ground of the Rectory. They will face the might of Plymouth Argaum, who are enjoying a stellar season having been promoted from Devon One as champions.

Ivybridge spokes­man Jim Edington said: 'Both sides will be full of confidence. It's a big ask, they've had a great season, but we'll give it a go.'

Joining them on finals day will be the third team, who are contesting the Ellis Cup final against Plymouth Argaum seconds at the same ground and date.

The seconds never looked likely to be troubled by Devonport, despite going down to an early 0-3 lead when they were penalised for not rolling away. Centre Tommy Newman opened the scoring for Ivy on eight minutes with a try, converted by Luke Martell, who had seen an earlier penalty come back off the woodwork.

Next over the line with 12 minutes gone was flanker Anthony Delacore, who crashed over under the posts to take the lead to 14-3.

With Ivy rampant, they scored their third with 20 minutes gone when slick passing saw Newman cross wide out. With the tricky conversion missed, Ivy were 19-3 ahead.

Devonport stemmed the tide a little after this, with an Adam Clayson penalty on half an hour making the score 22-3 to Ivy at half-time.

It wasn't until midway through the period that Ivybridge scored their fourth try, Josh Wesley producing a superb dummy in midfield before releasing Ian Davidson, on as a replacement for Luke Martell, to go over.

Tom Newman tried his luck from the tee this time and was successful, taking the lead out to 29-3.

Devonport did manage a consolation score through their winger, but Ivybridge had the last word with Liam Healey scoring under the posts, again converted by Newman, for a final score of 36-10.

A happy Edington said: 'It was a very entertaining game.

'The pitch was hard, the sun was shining and both teams wanted to play attractive rugby.'