Services bade a lacklustre farewell to South West 1

BUT IVYBRIDGE MISS OUT

- By CCONRAD SUTCLIFFE Rugby correspondent

DEVONPORT Services said a lacklustre farewell to South West One when they went down to a 37-34 defeat at Sidmouth.

With promotion back to National Two West already assured, Services had nothing riding on the game.

That wasn’t the case for Sidmouth, who were scrapping for every point in their efforts to dodge the relegation playoffs.

Kieran Leach, in his last pronouncement at Services’ team manager after 10 years in the job, said the difference in motivations was obvious.

“We went up there with numerous players missing and with nothing to play for,” said Leach.

“Sidmouth had loads riding on the game and came out full of intent. They clearly wanted it more than us.

“Before we knew it we were two tries down, but got back to 17-14 behind at half time.

“Something similar happened in the second half when we went 29-14 down, and we got two tries in five minutes to get right back in it again.