Ivybridge upbeat despite toughest of starts

IVYBRIDGE start their second successive South West One campaign with one of the toughest away trips of their season when they travel to St Ives tomorrow.

The Bridgers are entering uncharted territory as the South Hams club has never stayed in the section for more than a year before.

Head coach Spenser Owen, who last season guided the Bridgers into a new chapter in their history, admitted he would have chosen a less demanding fixture for his team’s opening match.

But he added: “I suppose it gets it out of the way and we’ve got to start down there as we mean to carry on this season.

“The good thing is the players learned a lot from playing in South West One last season and that will help them.”

Ivybridge have lost talented centre Toby Borrow, who appears likely to spend most of the season at Newton Abbot.

Andy Swainson, who created much of what was good about the Bridgers’ attack, has left to take a job in London.

And forward Alex Smith has returned to former club Totnes.

But Owen was upbeat about the youngsters coming through the club’s development system.

He said: “It’s sort of a compliment when the players you have developed as a club move on to somewhere else.

“We won’t stand in anyone’s way — we hope they think of returning to us in future years.”

Ivybridge (from): N Webster, A Knight, R Young, A Chesters, T Wynn, R Wakeling, L Kimber, W Luscombe, T Borrow, J Perkins, S Atkinson, K Trent, M Spooner, B Kirby, R Heath, O Brown, C Setter, D Burnard.

DEVONPORT Services start their Western Counties West campaign at Wellington tomorrow pretty much how they finished last season.

Services, who have put in a tough pre-season, know next to nothing about Wellington, who were promoted unbeaten last season, except that they are pretty good.

But director of rugby Dave Oakley said the squad were upbeat about tomorrow’s game.

He said: “As they (Wellington) were promoted last year with an unbeaten season you have to be aware that they are serious about what they are trying to achieve.

“Therefore, they will be also prepared for us and with the addition of home advantage they will be favourites to pick up the points.

“We know it is going to be a hard start to the season for us, but everything is in place to show them what they will face in the Western Counties West League.

Devonport Services: C Ranscombe, B Wadham, A Hall, M Anstis, M Andrews, N Wonnacott, T Excell, A Smith, S Bennet, G Williams, M Gregory, J Mellor, K Luckett, J Page, J Theophanides. Replacements: J Martin, S Bartlett, M Symes.

TAVISTOCK field a now you see it, now you don’t, sort of squad for tomorrow’s Western Counties West opener against Kingsbridge at Sandy Park tomorrow (3pm).

The inspirational James Kaminsky is playing his final game before moving to London, while other Tavvy young players will be off to university within the month.

Tavvy joint coach Steve Luffman said: “Our squad will look very different from the one which plays tomorrow, but we are working very hard to find replacements.”