Tribute Devon Two
Dartmouth 45,
Salcombe 7
Dartmouth welcomed local rivals Salcombe at Norton last weekend.
After the previous week’s away match to St Columba and Torpoint was cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch, Dartmouth were looking to dust away the cobwebs and try to continue their winning ways.
The team was largely unchanged but for the welcome addition of centre/wing Luke Bridgewood, who has re-signed for Dartmouth after a spell with Paignton RFC.
Salcombe started the match well, and had a chance for some quick points after a few minutes from a penalty kick.
The kick went wide, which about summed up the rest of the half for the Crabs as it was all Dartmouth.
Scores from wing Jack Gordon, centre Gary Rooney, hooker Nick Shillabeer and a great try from the other centre Dave Champion after a strong run through the middle gave Darts a healthy lead.
The only blip on the horizon was that Jack Clark was only able to convert two out of the four conversion attempts.
Just before the half time whistle, Dartmouth lost the influential Ricky Seymour with a bang to the head, to be replaced by young tyro Myles Churchill.
Salcombe were able to take advantage of the shuffle and scored a converted try deep in the corner, which was converted with aplomb by their stand-off.
Nevertheless, it had been a good half for Dartmouth, with some excellent running rugby played, a bonus point secured and a score of 24-7 at the break.
Dartmouth made several changes for the second half, with Alex Parrott, Nick Shillabeer and Karl Caunter making way for Alex Hassard, Tom Clark and Will Lockerbie.
But their was no let up for the away team, as Champion scored again for his brace, with Jack Clark making sure of the conversion this time.
Midway through the half, Dartmouth reshuffled their back line, with Luke Chase coming on at fly-half, Aaron Hunt moving to the wing and Luke Bridgewood taking over at centre to replace Gary Rooney.
Just after this, things got a whole lot harder for Salcombe as they lost a lock to a yellow card.
This paid immediate dividends for Dartmouth as Jack Clark scored from a sniping run close to the line, an effort that he duly converted to bring the score to 38-7.
Towards the end of the game, Dartmouth suffered as lock Adam Sharam was red carded for a dangerous tackle, the consensus among the crowd being that a yellow card would have been sufficient.
With both sides now reduced to 14 men, Dartmouth were still proving the stronger, but were now hit by a nasty injury to Aaron Hunt, who dislocated his shoulder while tackling his opposition, an injury that could well keep him out for the rest of the season.
Karl Caunter replaced Hunt and Dartmouth were able to score a further try right at the death through wing Jack Gordon, to add to his first half effort.
The final conversion was taken by Dave Champion, who slotted over to make the result 45-7 to Dartmouth.
Dartmouth’s man-of-the-match was prop Declan Hammond, who had a storming game throughout.
This result means Dartmouth are still top of the pile with a game in hand, as their closest rivals OPMs and Old Techs were held to a draw.
On Saturday Dartmouth are away to Buckfastleigh, a game that promises to be a very hard-fought encounter as Dartmouth only managed a one-point win at home to the Ramblers earlier in the season.