Withies See Off Services

It’s an excellent eighth win to ring in 2025 for the boys

The first fixture of the new year saw second-placed Devonport Services IIs travel to Raleigh Park to take on a Withy side who are growing in confidence week-on-week as they looked for another win to continue the excellent momentum they’ve started to build. 

With the visitors suffering just one loss so far this season; plus, after a convincing victory against Withy during the home leg they too had some confidence.

This was evident in the early stages as they used their experience and speed to maintain decent amounts of possession and almost managed an early score as a reward. However, Withy had other ideas as some strong defence saw them earn a penalty inches from the try line and could relieve some pressure with a kick to touch further upfield. 

The first points of the game came courtesy of the boot of Tom Cooke who slotted a penalty from just outside the 22’ after 11 minutes. 

With their noses just in front, Withies began to get more time with the ball and were gaining the upper hand. Their advantage was increased after the Devonport Tighthead Prop was sent to the sin bin for a high off-the-ball tackle. The extra man allowed for more options and with some quick passing, Sam Wheeler found some space on the wing to run in Withycombe’s first try. Cooke’s conversion put Withy ten points up after half an hour. 

Devonport struck back and started to apply more pressure. This pressure forced Withy into making errors and with it; after several penalties in quick succession, George Doughty was sent to the sin bin. 

In similar fashion to Withy’s numerical advantage ten minutes previously, Services recycled the ball through the phases, eventually finding a spot under the posts to score. 

This late score brought the half time score to 10-7.

With the second half getting underway, Withy now had the slope and within just one minute, they’d used it to great effect. Speedy ball and slick runs saw a Josh Saunders break find Joe Blyth who skipped past the defenders to score under the posts. With the conversion duly taken, the points gap was extended to ten points. 

A chance to reduce the deficit was eyed up with a speculative attempt at goal from the visitors; but with the ball colliding with the uprights, Withy gathered and cleared back towards halfway. 

What followed was possibly a contender for try of the season as a pinpoint-accurate Crossfield kick from Tom Cooke landed beautifully in the hands of the sprinting Liam Daniels who continued his run unhampered to score a beauty of a try to great (and justified) celebrations. 

The final quarter of the contest was more evenly divided, with both sides exchanging possession and territory. Despite a final flurry of activity for Devonport inside the Withy 22’, the deadlock remained tight, and the game played out without any more scores. 

A highly entertaining game ended with the final score being Withycombe 24, Devonport Services IIs 7.

A huge performance from the Withies this week who took control of large parts of the game to pull off quite the victory against the high-flying Plymouth side. 

After the well-earned celebrations, thoughts turn to an important week of training before what will likely be Withy’s toughest game of the season next weekend when they travel to the English Riviera to play table toppers Torquay at the Recreation Ground.