Tomorrow, Newton Abbot “All Whites” travel to Exmouth for the final of the Devon Senior Cup (kick off 3.00pm).
This season the competition was restricted to only four teams and both finalists – in a season badly hit by weather – reached the final without having to play a semi-final.
The original plan was to play home and away semi-finals but with time running out this was reduced to one leg. Brixham eventually withdrew from a trip to Newton and Exmouth and Barnstaple were unable to agree a date.
An intriguing match is in prospect; last season Exmouth were promoted to National Two South via the play-off route. Newton had beaten the East Devon side in both League encounters before losing the semi-final of the Devon Cup at the Imperial Ground.
Since then, during the current season, Exmouth have endured a tough time at the higher level and with only 5 wins from 30 matches have come straight back down into South West Three.
Newton finished their League programme with three straight wins to end in fourth, and will be aiming to take this form into tomorrow’s clash.
Both Clubs will be keen to set down markers for next season as they renew their rivalry.
If Newton win, it will mean a welcome piece of silverware as three other teams have all reached finals without claiming the ultimate prize.
This takes nothing away from either of the U17s, U16s or U15s who have all had tremendous seasons, each showing that there is plenty of young talent coming through Newton’s thriving youth section.
On Sunday, the U17s – as South West champions – travelled to Henley to take on the South East champions, Sevenoaks. The Kent-based outfit proved the stronger on the day winning 23-3 to become Southern area champions.
The U15s went to Barnstaple to play Topsham in their county final. The Newton youngsters finished strongly but had left themselves too much to do before losing 17-14.
One side tasting success over the weekend were the Second XV who enjoyed a couple of days away in Cornwall to celebrate the end of their season.
On Saturday a very young line-up took on an experienced St Austell second string and came out the 15-nil winners.
Fly half Alex Pugh put the first points on the board with an interception try 10 minutes before the break. With second use of the elements Newton pushed on to add two further tries. Second-rower Rory Blackmore – guesting from New Cross – scored after a period of forward pressure.
Blackmore’s second row partner Alex Rogers should also have scored but lost the ball over the line.
Another to suffer the same embarrassment was try scoring machine Alipate Laulau. The prolific winger should have opened the scoring but failed to ground the ball after a 60 metre run – much to the amusement of his colleagues.
However, another long run with the last move of the game saw Laulau wrap the match up with his 26th try for the Seconds in his first season at the club.
The Cup Final at Exmouth is followed in the evening by the Club’s annual Dinner & Dance in the marquee back at Rackerhayes. On Monday the Junior Section of the Club will be holding a Funday, there will be stalls and games plus a tag tournament for all ages and abilities. The action starts at 10am.
Looking further ahead, Wednesday 14th of May sees the start of a Tag Rugby tournament which will run through the summer, further information will be available in the next edition.
The Club are once again running their annual Golf Day, this year’s event will take place at Stover Golf Club on May 29th, more details are available from golf@allwhitesrugby.co.uk.