Today we reach our final game in the Counties 2 Tribute Ale Devon 2025/26 league campaign, and our visitors today are the players, committee and supporters from our old friends Exeter Saracens and we welcome them all to Raleigh Park for the latest episode in this long-running rivalry.
This is a postponed game from February when the weather played havoc with fixtures across the county.
We are in 7th place, having won 7 games, drawn 2 and lost 12 on 52 points and Sarries sit one place above us, winning 12 matches and losing 9 on 67 points. Last week be beat a weakened Dartmouth team at home 71-20 whilst Sarries inexplicably lost 104-19 at South Molton; the latest strange results in a season of strange results where so-called form went out of the window. Today’s result will be anyone’s guess!

For a large part of the season Sarries were riding high in 2nd place in the table but have dropped off in the latter part of the campaign. Although we usually have closely fought games, we suffered a big defeat away to Sarries in October whilst they were in the middle of an excellent run of form and we hit our usual late October to December slump mainly due to injuries and inconsistent player availability; possibly the same reason for Sarries “up and down” form since Xmas.
Today should be an interesting encounter which I hope will be enjoyed by players and spectators alike. In any event there is always the bar afterwards where we always enjoy the company of the Sarries boys!

Elsewhere the club is flourishing on and off the field with the ladies` team finishing 2nd in their league and the juniors all having a great season with new players joining ahead of next season when we will once again have a colts team. They will be first year colts so will encounter more experienced teams, but I am sure that they will give a good account of themselves under the guidance of coaches Nick Southern and Doug Wibberley. There was a training session last weekend for juniors with some Exeter Chiefs players attending which proved beneficial to the players.

Back to today’s game and the challenge presented by Sarries; it will be a tough test for the boys and you can all play your part as the “16th man” by giving the boys your usual vocal support.

Make yourselves heard, always remembering to keep your comments within bounds; show respect for our opponents and the referee but most of all…………………………………

ENJOY YOUR RUGBY!

Dave Josey