South West Division Tribute Devon Two

Dartmouth RFC 41,

Plympton Victoria RFC 5

After last week’s game postponement at Ilfracombe due to a waterlogged pitch, Dartmouth welcomed Plympton Victoria for a game they knew they had to win to keep up the pressure on the two teams above them in the league.

Although Plympton are languishing near the bottom of the league, Dartmouth were keenly aware that they should not be complacent and that their opponents were no pushovers.

Dartmouth had a full squad, with a first start for Dave Wright ­following a pre-season injury.

Once the home team had settled, they soon began to push Plympton and scored a try through centre Karl Caunter with a quarter of an hour gone. Nick Shillabeer duly stepped up to slot over the ­conversion.

There followed two further tries from Tom Clark and John Dingle, both converted by Shillabeer, whose kicks were not pretty but were nevertheless ­effective.

The score was now 21-0 to the Darts.

Dartmouth were now keen to secure the try bonus point, but a lapse in defence cost them dearly, with Plympton scoring an unconverted try.

But it was only a blip and Dingle scored his second on the stroke of half time, although this time Shillabeer’s kick went wide, so the half ended with the score at a comfortable 26-5 to Dartmouth.

Hoping to push on from their first-half ­display, the home side were thwarted by a Plympton side who, still smarting from the first half, upped their game, with the score staying the same until the 50-minute mark.

Dartmouth earned a penalty that the ever-reliable Shillabeer put between the posts.

The Darts now turned their pressure into two further tries through second-row replacement Lawrence Searle and centre Caunter’s second, with one being converted.

The final score was 41-5 to Dartmouth, who were pleased with such an emphatic result,

as it enables them to climb to second in the league behind Old Technicians.

Dartmouth are away in the league to Ilfracombe RFC next week, which is a rearranged fixture from the postponement of two weeks ago.

Ilfracombe are ­currently in third place and just a single point behind Dartmouth, so there will be no effort spared by either side in what may be a telling pointer to how both of these teams are ­progressing.

Kick off is at 2.30pm at Brimlands.