Western Counties West

Okehampton 20

Sidmouth 16

THIS was a stop start affair this week for Okehampton firsts in a scrappy afternoon's rugby. Unused to the cramped confines of the back pitch, the Okes failed to perform to levels attained in previous weeks but still finished with a valuable victory.

A strong wind and slope were of benefit to the Okes in a punctuated first 40 minutes. Oke dominated the majority of the half, but failed to capitalise on their superior possession and territory and their interval lead looked a slender one.

An abundance of early possession for the hosts resulted in the opening score after 13 minutes. Playing through the phases the home side eventually created enough room out wide, and full back Gareth Espin put winger Rob Fishleigh over on the right flank to maintain his recent try scoring streak. Scrum half Joey Bruce failed with the difficult conversion.

Despite the early dominance Sidmouth had a penalty chance after 22 minutes but fly half Retter was awry with his attempt from the left side.

Okehampton continued to apply pressure, particularly at scrum time, but were struggling to locate the finishing touches despite creating several scoring opportunities. Eventually, after a series of set scrums in the Sidmouth 22, the pressure told. Repeated infringements saw the visitors' hooker see yellow and Oke took full advantage with player coach Gareth Evans crossing, after picking up at the base of a five metre scrum, to force his way over after 35 minutes. This time Bruce added the extras but when the interval arrived, the 12-0 scoreline looked a little light for the hosts.

However, things soon looked a little rosier for the home side as they started the second half on the offensive. This time it was the visiting prop that saw yellow as Oke applied more scrum pressure in the visitors' half. Oke powered forward at another set scrum, but the ball came loose and was moved to the backs where fly half Rhys Palmer stepped inside the cover to cross for Oke's third try. The conversion was wide, but at 19-0 Oke were reasonably comfortable.

Then the match slowly began to turn in the visitors' favour. Number eight Evans went off to be replaced by sibling, and new signing, Ross in the back row. Penalties began to mount up against the Okes as Sidmouth upped their game, and key prop Ian Langbridge saw yellow after 55 minutes. Sidmouth fly half Retter then began to find his range from hand and floor, and he slotted three penalties in the third quarter to reduce the deficit to a mere eight points.

The lead was then whittled away further as the match entered the last dozen minutes. Home flanker Dean Abrams was next to see yellow as the hosts battled to keep out the visitors' increasing attacks. Oke managed to finally escape their shackles, and after 74 minutes replacement centre Tom Powell slotted a penalty to give the home side some breathing space.

Sidmouth rallied again in the dying minutes and were camped under the Oke uprights until conceding a vital penalty. This was the trigger for a full on melee involving both sets of players as the match finally boiled over. When play resumed Oke controlled the ball relatively comfortably until the final whistle arrived to signal a narrow, but valuable win. In all, it was a niggly forgettable affair, but a welcome victory nonetheless for Okehampton.