Devizes RFC

Saddlebacks start off pre-season with a win!

Devizes travelled to Greenbridge Road on Saturday to face Swindon, a side well known to them over the years, most recently, last season, where Swindon managed to do the double over Devizes in a campaign which saw the Saddlebacks move down to Southern Counties and Level 7.  Swindon remain at Level 6 therefore this would be a stern assessment of the Devizes lads credentials.  Ultimately, both sides had several players missing from the ranks, but for those who were playing, it was a great way to get those minutes under the belts and blow away the cobwebs.

Devizes were fielding a bit of a make-shift side, with several notable absentees, but it was very pleasing to see several returning faces, such as front row unit, Sam Holloway, second row enforcer, Henry Giddings, July’s trainer of the month, Matt Nealey and several new recruits in the summer in the backline in the shape of Joe Parsons and Aaron Payne.

Devizes kicked off under cloudy skies but started the brighter of the two sides with a score within 2 minutes.  It was that man, Sam Holloway who burrowed over from close range after some sterling work by the pack.  Morgan Wellard on kicking duties couldn’t quite add the extras.

Back came Swindon, but the conditioning work done by the coaching team in the pre-season was starting to pay dividends as Devizes kept the home side at bay.  And then, playing some enterprising rugby, edged into a 12-0 lead after several forward rumbles resulted in Holloway dotting down for his brace.  Wellard converting.

Swindon again tried to put together some phases, but the back row of Will Hine, Matt Nealey and Henry May disrupted well.  And this gave the backs the platform to play, with Sam Paget and our two new wingers Payne and Parson looking ever threatening.  Indeed, into the second quarter a well-executed move was Joe Payne evade the home defence down the left hand side and he dotted down for his Devizes try.  And just before the break, great work by the forwards, opened up Wellard to place a beautiful cross field kick into the arms of Aaron Payne who evaded the last Swindon defender to dot down for his first Devizes try and to make it 2-0.

The second half became increasingly scrappy and fractured with both sides making changes, and indeed, there was a sniff of a Swindon come back after some barrelling runs from their forwards saw them dot down to reduce the deficit.

Devizes got the final score of the day, again with some great rugby, which saw centre for the day, Scott Martin find a weakness in the Swindon defence and power over for well taken score.  Final score 34-5.

1^st XV Player/Manager Seb Hutchings said “A great effort by the lads today, particularly since we were a little makeshift in nature, but the hard work in pre-season was evident and we came out well on top. We played some great rugby at times, but there is still lots to work on and as a result, we will not be getting ahead of ourselves after one promising performance”.

Devizes travel to Stratford-Upon-Avon RFC next weekend, another level 6 side, looking to continue their promising pre-season.  This will be a completely different test to what the lads faced on Saturday against Swindon!  There will be a club coach departing Devizes RFC at 11.15am on Saturday – supporters are very welcome to join the players on the coach.  If interested, please get in touch with Seb Hutchings on +44 789929168 to secure your seat!