Western Counties West

St Austell 15

Okehampton 7

THIS top four clash never reached any great heights as both sides seemed to be suffering from a post Christmas break malaise. This was a game that could have gone either way. Punctuated by far too frequent stoppages and a lack of real intensity, the home side came away with a tight victory.

The home side started down the slight slope, and with wind advantage had the upper had for the majority of the opening quarter. The Okes suffered the early loss of second rower Sam Turner through injury, to add to the earlier withdrawal of influential back Gareth Espin. The Saints had the advantage at lineout time, although both sides were generally evenly matched in the first half as defences held sway. The only score in the first 20 went the way of the hosts as the Okes defence switched off to their cost, something that was to be repeated in the second half to ultimately cost them the match.

From one of numerous early penalty awards, St Austell gained a lineout in the Okehampton 22. A clean take was driven, and flanker Paul Winterbottom, a thorn in the Okes side all afternoon, snuck up the blind side while the Okes left flank defence 'went AWOL' and strolled over for the opening try. Scrum half Matt Shepherd added the extra two and the hosts were 7-0 up after 15 minutes.

The Okes slowly came more into the match as play entered the second quarter. The scrum was solid and the backs showed occasional glimpses of their pace. With the home side a man down due to a sin binning, the visitors began to make advances towards the home side's 22. After several rucks with momentum, the ball was spread to the backs where centre Kevin Dennis slipped through a gap, then showed good pace and strength to cross to the left of the posts. Fly half Carl Poynton added the conversion and it was all level as half time approached.

The second half began, and with the advantage of the conditions, the Okes would have expected to exert early pressure. It was quite the opposite in fact as the home side attacked with more gusto around the fringes in particular. No clear cut scoring chances were really being created by either side before a loose kick from their own half by the Okes was gathered by the Saints fullback; the Okehampton cover defence seemed to have the danger in hand as three defenders converged to tackle Saint's right winger Alex Yelland; through a combination of weak tackling and good strength he popped out of the tackle and crossed for what would prove to be the decisive score. Shepherd failed to add the extra two.

The visitors were not helped when fly half and playmaker Carl Poynton was forced to leave the field resulting in yet another reshuffle with back rower Tom McGratton put into midfield. The match was still much in the balance at this point, and the next score would be crucial.

Okehampton on several occasions kicked or ran well to gain attacking positions in the home side's danger zone. However each time they failed to come away with points. The Okes' best chance of all came, when from a five metre scrum, they drove the home pack back over its own try line, only for number eight Steve Alford to be adjudged to have knocked forwarded in the act of grounding the ball.

Centre James Earp had entered the fray and he was involved in the move that was to rob the Okes of a deserved bonus point. From recycled ball in midfield, fly half Andy Ashwin slotted a drop goal to extend the margin to eight points.

St Austell had the victory and the visitors were left wondering if only, in several different ways.

Ultimately, this only proved once more, that there is nothing to choose between many sides in this league. Both sides know they can play much better than this, and it's often home advantage that can prove crucial in these tense fixtures.