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Devonport Services 5

Ivybridge geared up for their all-important trip to Burnham-on-Sea tomorrow with a bonus-point victory over near-neighbours Devonport Services writes Tim Leigh.

Ivybridge coach Neil Thomson was satisfied to pick up maximum points and so stay three points clear of second-placed Burnham.

However, he admitted to being a little disappointed with his side's inability to make more of the chances they created.

Ivybridge know they will have to be far more clinical tomorrow against a Burnham side who boast the tightest defence in Western Counties West.

Thomson said he would be satisfied with a win or a point at Burnham ahead of what could be a season-defining month for Ivybridge.

They visit Wellington after the Burnham game, and then again travel to Somerset for their South West Intermediate Cup final against Wells on February 1.

Thomson expects to have pretty much a full squad to pick from for the trip to Somerset, with Hayden Coles back in training and pushing for a spot on the bench after twisting his ankle.

The only concern is over prop Luke Richardson, who picked up a knock in the win over Devonport and is being monitored.

Thomson said: 'We have some big decisions to make, mostly among the forwards. We've signed up a new hooker, Meredith, who's played at national three level and is looking promising.

'However, we're not going to forget about our younger boys who've got us here in the first place.'

The win over Devonport was a slow starter, with the first points being scored after a quarter of an hour when Ivybridge fly-half Matt Grieveson stroked over a penalty.

Ten minutes later centre Lewis Paterson made a break and offloaded to George deMendonca, who recycled the ball after going into contact.

From there the forwards took it on before second row James Sloan burst through to score the game's opening try. With the conversion being missed, Ivy were 10-0 to the good.

Soon after this Ivybridge won a scrum against the head, with Matt Grieveson releasing centre Jordan Anderton to finish.

With Grieveson making no mistake with the extra two points, Ivybridge were well on their way with a 15-0 lead.

There were no more scores before the interval, although full-back Tom Scoles did see yellow for hands in the ruck just before the whistle and spent 10 minutes on the sidelines.

The second half began with the referee dishing out more cards, handing home prop Matt Finn a 10-minute breather for a trip and then, following retaliation from a Devonport player, handing him a yellow as well, to briefly make it a 13 against 14 game.

Ivybridge defended well in this period, and extended their lead on 50 minutes when Services infringed and Grieveson kicked another penalty for 18-0.

It then took the home side another twenty minutes to cross the whitewash, a tap penalty by scrum-half Ben Watts and good hands from Grieveson combining to send over Jordan Anderton for his second of the game and a 23-0 scoreline.

With Ivy now going all out for the bonus point, they secured it with four minutes left on the clock when a catch and drive move saw George Wilson, playing at blindside flanker as opposed to his usual second row position, crash over for the vital fourth try.

There was still time for Services to grab a consolation try in the corner before the time was up and prevent the indignity of being nilled. The five points gained were undoubtedly more pleasing to the Ivybridge management than the misplaced passes which prevented Ivy scoring more tries.

If Ivybridge rediscover their mojo tomorrow, then by the end of the day they could have a healthy seven or even eight-point lead at the top of the table and would have one hand on the coveted league crown.