Dartmouth put down a marker for all the teams in Devon Two this weekend, putting nine tries past a well-drilled Plym Vic side.

The Riversiders didn't have it all their own way and had to fight for every point. Dartmouth were not dominant in the scrums and the line-outs were a bit scrappy as well. None the less, Dartmouth are realizing where the gaps are appearing and spotting where the opposition's weaknesses are. The Riversiders lie second and are five points clear of Ilfracombe, with Exeter University on five points more than Dartmouth.

As reported last year, there is no reason why Plym Vic are where they are in Devon Two. They have a strong core base of players and their knowledge of the game is good. Yet they lie at the bottom of Devon Two without a single point. Dartmouth once again had its strong hard core of supporters, Rick and Kieran Bonstow, who make all the home and more importantly the away games, plus Matt White and his mates, who turned up for what was a thrilling encounter. Steve Atkins had to use his brilliant forward utility player Declan Hammond, who normally plays on the flank, as a makeshift prop and Al Hassard was brought in to play second row, putting in a good strong 80 minutes.

The Riversiders went five points behind in the first three minutes with a try from Plym Vics' Samoan-born winger, much to the dismay of skipper Will Lockerbie, who said to the Riversiders in the changing rooms to get in their faces and give them nothing. That seemed to fall on deaf ears.

From then on the Riversiders got down to business, Sam Churchill sprinting down the left wing, dodging one defender then another to go in for the first try of the afternoon with just six minutes gone. John Dingle, who through work commitments hasn't played for the last four games, got on the score sheet with a well-worked training ground move.

With Reg Varney throwing a dummy run, Harry Moores picked the ball from the back of a ruck and popped the ball to John to go over for the first of four tries, Aaron Hunt converting with ease. The next try was a superb effort from the entire team.

The Riversiders won the scrum, Harry Moores passed the ball to Richard Lobb and the ball went through the hands to Luke Bonstow, who drew two Plym Vic players, popped the ball to Scott Silsbury, who by rights shouldn't have scored at all, but took two opposition players with him to score to the far right of the try line. Scotty won't score a better try than that for a while.

Will Lockerbie nearly got on the score sheet and will probably feel cheated that he did not with with one of the best moves of the match. When Dartmouth stole a line-out the ball went through the hands, and Will, making a line-breaking move, just knocked on from a brilliant pass from Luke Bonstow. Plym Vic hit back with a couple of solo efforts themselves, but Dartmouth's defence stood resolute and the score at half time was 5 – 17.

With just four minutes gone at the start of the second half, Dartmouth gave away a penalty and Plym Vics' kicker Jonathan Lamour slotted the ball over to take the score to 8 – 17. Two minutes later Dartmouth asserted themselves again and Reg Varney got in on the act to score a brilliant solo try.

With Dartmouth being awarded a free kick eight metres out, Reg took a quick tap and was away, touching down to the right of the posts. Once again Dartmouth's full back Aaron Hunt made no mistake with the extra two points. With the bonus point won, the Riversiders turned on the style, John Dingle getting involved once more, this time from open play. Luke Bonstow, playing at thirteen, has grown into his position, and he was responsible for putting Dingle away to the far left to touch down for his second of the day on the hour mark.

The next move came five minutes later, from a line-out 10 metres out. Nick Shillabeer threw in, looped around to the back of the lineout and received the ball from Luke Bonstow to power his way over for Dartmouth's sixth try.

Once again Dartmouth's Hunt slotted the ball over to take the score to 8 – 36. Varney got on the score sheet with his second of the match in the 65th minute mark with a well-worked try once again from open play. John Dingle finished off a well-deserved hat-trick in the 70th minute, again from open play. Charlie Watson then gave Dingle a superbly weighted pass for try number eight.

The last try of the game was probably the funniest; Dartmouth won a scrum against the head and were moving the ball sweetly through the hands, when John Dingle picked the ball up, ran 10 metres and with just two metres to go all you could hear from the sideline was Will Lockerbie shouting "Dingle, Dingle!", there was no chance John Dingle was going to pass to anyone once he'd crossed the line. Aaron Hunt wrapped up the game with the last kick of the match, bringing the score to 8 – 53.

Dartmouth take on Buckfastleigh, who themselves are on a winning streak, at Fortress Norton with a 2.30pm kick off. Your support will be as usual very much appreciated as with just half the season gone the Riversiders need all the support they can get and in return they will entertain you with some mouth-watering rugby.

The man-of-the-match for Dartmouth was their oustanding centre Luke Bonstow.