Huge Win over local rivals Old Techs

Tamar Saracens turned on the style in snowy conditions to secure their league safety and relegate their city rivals Old Techs by winning 43-7 in an early kick-off at Parkway.

Techs knew they had to win to have any chance of staying up, but they did not perform on the day and suffered their biggest defeat of the season.

They were hit by a storming start from the hosts, who scored four tries in the opening 18 minutes.

Prop James McFarlane was key to their victory. Time after time he burst through Techs’ defence, while he was part of a Sarries pack that dominated the scrums.

Techs, who had gone into the game on the back of three wins, did have good spells at the end of each half but they could only manage one try and the game had already got away from them in the opening quarter.

Sarries’ first try came from Mike Cox at the base of a scrum on six minutes. The hosts had put pressure on straight from kick-off and it was their third scrum on the line.

That was followed by a second try on 12 minutes from centre Chad Smith after McFarlane had burst through and had just been stopped inches from the line.

James McFarlane did get a try three minutes later when he ran in from 25 metres, with Tom Rigby adding the conversion to make it 17-0.

And almost straight from the restart, Sarries scored again when Mike Cox went over from another good scrum. Rigby converted to make it 24-0.

Techs did then get into the match but wasted a couple of good chances to score before the break.

Sarries made a storming start to the second half with James McFarlane getting his second from a line-out after Techs had thrown the ball out of field trying to attack from deep.

The visitors were ruled to have been held up over the line on 46 minutes and they failed to make the resultant five-metre scrum tell.

And to rub salt into their wounds, Frazer Tatchell ran in for a sixth try for Sarries after McFarlane fed him after a poor clearing kick by Techs. Rigby converted that effort and also added a try himself on 60 minutes.

Techs did push the last 20 minutes but their only reward was a converted try by centre Matt Simmonds. They now have to face up to a return to Devon Two.

Saracens, though, were delighted to secure their league safety, although the win did come at a cost, with Jamie Lavill-Harris suffering a nasty-looking injury to his foot that ended the match a few minutes early. The report now is that it was just a sprain.

“It is a shame to see them (Techs) go down as it is nice to have a local derby,” said Saracens coach Chey Bryce. “But it was more important that we got our league safety.”

He added: “I said in the week that I hoped it wouldn’t be a close affair and that we’d get the game won early and I think we had it won by half-time.

“It was then just a case of sticking to our patterns and systems and the boys did that.

“We really put them under a lot of pressure, but credit where credit is due they stuck at it and managed to get on the scoreboard.

“But now our league safety is secured we can utilise our squad.”

Saracens have a busy week coming up, with three games in five days. They are set to play the University of Plymouth III on Wednesday night, Dartmouth in the league on Saturday and then travel to Buckfastleigh on the Sunday in the Devon Junior Cup.

“We have three games in five days so we are going to have to use our squad and rotate players around,” added Bryce.

Courtesy of Plymouth Sports Gazzete