Plymouth Argaum were grateful to some good defence and the boot of Tom Shepherd as they edged out city rivals Old Techs 9-5 at Bickleigh Down in the other Devon One derby on Saturday.

The win has taken Argaum one place and one point above Techs in the table. They are now ninth with Techs dropping to 10th.

Techs were leading 5-3 at the break with Matt Simmonds scoring the game’s only try after Shepherd had put Argaum ahead with an early penalty.

Shepherd then kicked two further efforts in the second period and then the hosts defended brilliantly as Techs tried their best to snatch victory.

“We’re disappointed with the result,” said Techs chairman David Evans. “But we had a bad day and didn’t get going.

“We were leading 5-3 at half-time against the slope and we thought we were in for a good day, but second half we failed to make use of the advantage, making silly mistakes when in point-scoring positions.”

Copied from the Plymouth Sports Gazette