Devon Intermediate Cup

Tiverton 5

Okehampton 25

OKEHAMPTON booked their semi-final berth with a comfortable victory at Bolham Road in positively vernal conditions that suited a free-flowing and open game.

It took Okehampton under five minutes to post their first points against their Western Counties (West) opponents; a series of forward drives saw a penalty awarded 35 metres out to the left of the uprights which was converted with aplomb by Carl Poynton.

On eight minutes the lead was doubled when a Tiverton tackler was penalised; the kick was in an almost identical position to the first as was the result with another perfect strike from Poynton.

Okehampton were having the better of both scrum and lineout at this point but both sets of backs were throwing the ball around with abandon and asking questions of each other's defence. It was therefore slightly ironic that the first try of the day should come from a pushover try. A number of driving mauls saw a penalty awarded to the Okes. They opted for a scrum and Steve Alford got the touch down after the Tiverton pack had duly been shunted backwards. Poynton converted and the score was 11-0 after 34 minutes.

The game was effectively ended as a contest two minutes later. Okehampton claimed the restart deep inside their 22 and started a series of drives that took them up to half-way. The ball was then spun through the hands and following lovely interplay between the forwards and backs Kevin Dennis went in under the posts. Another Poynton conversion gave the visitors an 18-0 lead at the interval.

If the visitors expected the floodgates to open in the second period they were in for a shock.

For ten minutes Tiverton piled on pressure close to the the Okes line but were thwarted by resolute defence. Eventually a kick into the visitors' 22 was returned by Craig Dennis, Tiverton failed to deal with it and the ball was scooped up by Gareth Espin; he scooted down the touchline before passing the ball inside to Kevin Dennis to go under the posts for his second try. A drop-goal conversion by Poynton brought the score to 25-0.

Tiverton pounded away inside the Okehampton half and with two minutes remaining they were finally rewarded when fly-half Will Luangrath went over wide out. The conversion was missed and the final whistle went shortly afterwards.

This was another good win for the Okes against a side who are far better than their league position would suggest. A home semi-final against Exeter Saracens is the reward on March 17.