SRFC Vs Totnes RFC

 
Salcombe made the short journey to local rivals Totnes on Saturday with an increasingly lengthy injury list  and some key players unavailable. Despite the fallow squad numbers the quality was still present to make them hope for an away victory to a side at bottom of the table.
 
Salcombe took an early lead thanks to James Lake who found himself out wide following a break from Wing Oli Masters, the conversion was missed but the Crabs were on the board and things began to feel like they were falling into place. Totnes however had other thoughts and began to use the strong wind to their advantage to keep Salcombe pinned in their own half. The Crabs attempted to play some attacking rugby with some success in the backs but two quickfire tries for the home team followed, one from a chip over the top which bobbled and fell into the chasing attackers arms and one from a penalty kick to the corner and resulting driving maul. A yellow card didn’t help matters at all and the Crabs found themselves 14 – 5 down at half time albeit with the wind in their favour but very much with it all to do.

With the 3^rd quarter a scrapy affair with neither team doing very much at all, a break from the back of the scrum in Salcombe’s half saw number 9 Dave Evans run half the length of the field only to be brought down by the finger tips of the final defender, luckily centre Jordan Anderton was present to scoop up the pass and dive under the posts. The conversion and a penalty meant Salcombe had a one point lead before the inevitable happened, Totnes scored in the corner and only had to hold onto the ball for 4 minutes to see out a memorable win. Things got harder for the reds when another yellow card reduced them to 14 for the final moments. Unbelievably Totnes conceded a penalty with seconds left to play, Anderton kicked to the corner, Salcombe secured the line out ball, which was recycled several times before finding its way to Liam Wills to seal a one point win and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in a game that many thought might be a formality at the outset.

To see 30 plus players then leave the field looking quite so dejected was an odd occurrence, Totnes would have been counting down the seconds to a famous victory and Salcombe won a game that many would suggest they did not deserve to win, the truth was probably somewhere in between and the performance from both sides certainly did their current league positions a disservice. As it was though the Crabs brought home the points albeit not the full 5 they were looking for having failed to score 4 tries.
 
Notable performances were from Mark Parnowski playing in the unorthodox position of Flanker, hooker Neil Elliott who controlled the scrums under considerable pressure and wing Masters who made more yards in first half than in total since Christmas. Man of the Match however was co captain an new dad Dave Evans, playing what he tells us is his last game and whose break in the second half began the process of dragging the visitors back into the match. You will be missed on and off the pitch Dave and don’t hang those boots up too high.
 
Next Week is the traditional Easter program at Salcombe with a Lockerstash Exhibition match on Good Friday, the 100^th and final Barry cup match between Salcombe and Buckfastleigh on Saturday and then the easter 7’s competition on the Sunday.