IVYBRIDGE Vandals stay top of Devon South & West after they pipped title-rivals Old Techs 24-17 at Weston Mill in a rearranged game.

A strong Ivybridge 2nd XV went 19-3 up, then 24-10 ahead, but Techs kept coming back and almost snatched it at the end.

Third-placed Techs were frustrated that they didn’t get any more than a point out of the match, but they were proud of their performance against an Ivybridge team, that included plenty of players that have had first team experience.

Steve Atkinson, Ivybridge’s skills coach, said: “It was quite scrappy. I think the conditions suited them a bit more than us.

“We got into a bit of a dog fight, but we came out with a five-point win, so we are happy with that.”

The Vandals took the lead in the 10th minute when flanker Dan Gloyns, one of the first-team squad, scored after Hamish Harris and Alex Garner had done well. Luke Martell made it 7-0 with the conversion.

Sam Matts reduced the gap with a long-range penalty on the half-hour for Techs.

There was no scoring activity at either end until the first few minutes of the second half when the Vandals scored twice in five minutes. First Harris crossed on the left, then captain Sam Wilmington followed up a charge-down to score.

Techs replied through replacement Brett Tunnicliffe. Matts added the conversion to make it 19-10.

Ivybridge trousered their fourth try – and a bonus point – when Garner went over from a catch-and-drive move on the hour mark.

In a frenetic final phase of the game there was a try for Techs centre Will Booth that Matts converted – and a couple of near misses as the home side chucked the kitchen sink at the Ivybridge defence.

The Vandals are away to Brixham Crusaders this Saturday.

IVYBRIDGE 1st XV had no game scheduled for last Saturday and this time around they host Chew Valley in a true basement battle.