THE OKEHAMPTON teams were scattered around Devon with the Colts at home but all played in glorious sunshine and on good playing surfaces.

The first XV went to Ivybridge in the South of Devon and suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of a big and strong team, who put in a performance worthy of the Western Counties (West) League leaders.

The Okes side was without key players such as captain Ian Langbridge and prop Nicky Martin. Okehampton started brightly, resisting the Ivybridge side well.

They tackled and harried well and held the score to 0-0 until the 18th minute, when Ivybridge ran in a try for the first score. Ivybridge then made their superiority count and rattled in more points to make the half time score 38-0.

The Oke players kept their heads up and continued to tackle themselves to a standstill but in reality they had no answer to a superb Ivybridge performance.

Gareth Espin put in a sound performance at fly half for Okehampton and Joey Bruce tried to drive the pack on but they could not match the strength and physicality of the Ivybridge pack.

The Ivybridge wingers and full back were fleet of foot and ran excellent lines. The flood gates opened as the Okehampton players tired from their efforts and the final score of 69-0 reflected the dominance of the Ivybridge side.

The second XV visited Bideford and despite having only 15 players available put in an improved performance on the previous week.

The Okehampton players showed great spirit but the Bideford backs showed the strength and depth in their current squad. They made damaging break from all over the pitch gaining grounds and then accumulating points.

The Oke pack dominated the lineouts and held their own in the rucks and scrums, but that was not enough to hold back the score line. Okehampton's try scorers were James Bird and Bruce Griffith and a conversion from John Short, but the final score of 50-12 reflects the dominance of the Bideford backs. Having lost two games in a row, the Oke seconds now need a strong finish to the season to maintain their second place in Devon Merit table two.

The Colts XV were the stars of the day. They welcomed Sidmouth Colts to Oaklands in the semi-final of the Devon Colts Plate competition in a repeat of last year's Devon Colts Cup final when the sides battled to a 6 -6 draw to share the cup.

The Okehampton Colts took on their arch rivals and though the Sidmouth pack was bigger and stronger, still managed to secure a good supply of ball to enable the backs to do their work.

The Oke players defended extremely well and never allowed Sidmouth the space to develop attacks. With the ball in hand the Oke backs always looked dangerous and ran in four excellent tries through Declan (2), Keiran and Lewis while Rhys notched a conversion to take a 22-12 lead into the second leg.