South Molton U16s 5

Okehampton U16s 34

PLAYED in atrocious conditions on a difficult pitch this team put in a stellar away performance for the second week running.

Losing the toss and playing with the wind and slope the Okes opened up well playing terrific rugby in the conditions. With the Okes' pack at the top of their game over the last few weeks South Molton had little answer to the driving play which took control.

Okehampton, who welcomed back after serious injury Joe Taylor and Will Lethbridge, continued to impress using forward drives and tactical kicks to dominate play.

Tom Stone scored the first of his three tries from good interplay between backs and forwards. Jordan Lee and Martin Hann both scored within minutes of each other with Si Fellows and Jordan Lee converting.

Chris Pyle, Harvey Ratcliffe and Ben Kearley were among the pick of the forwards who all performed superbly with top class handling in the driving rain and wind. The back row of Gillard, Lee and Tom Stone were magnificent, snapping up loose ball and driving forward and setting up an excellent platform for Curtis and Searle to control play at half back. With Hignett and Taylor together for the first time this season in the centre the Okes made significant yards each time they ran the ball to stifle any attempt by South Molton to run the ball. In the second half Stone and Lee added to their tally after superb approach work by the forwards. Superb first up defence and excellent tackling ensured South Molton rarely broke out of their own half despite having advantage of wind and slope.

The back three of Si Fellows, Brennan Townshend and Peter Vernon played an excellent tactical game when fielding opposition kicks, supporting well to run the ball back into the opposition half. Jordan Lee scored the final try in the corner after an excellent blind side break which epitomised the effort by all the team.

South Molton to their credit never gave up and scored a consolation try in the final minute in what was an excellent game.

After many weeks on the road due to the vagaries of the fixture list the team continues to build and produce some outstanding results.

Players of the match were Okehampton's Jamie Hignett and Tom Stone.