Western Counties West

Kingsbridge 24

Okehampton 10

ON a day that saw no rugby played at Oaklands Park due to the weather and waterlogged pitches, the first XV made the long trek to Kingsbridge. The sun shone for their arrival but a keen wind and some heavy showers passing through made it a very cold afternoon for players and spectators alike.

The Kingsbridge pitch had not suffered as badly as Okehampton's from the weather and was in good enough condition to allow an open game between two committed sides.

The early exchanges were mostly dominated by the Kingsbridge team though the Okehampton players tackled well. After about 10 minutes the Kingsbridge backs worked an overlap on the left and scored the first points of the game and also added the extras to go ahead 7-0.

The Okes continued to tackle hard and gradually won some ball; there was no further score until about 25 minutes had elapsed. Kingsbridge were working another passing move when the Okes' centre Luke Honeychurch inter-cepted a long pass and sprinted from his own 10 metre line to score under the posts. Gary Sizmur added the conversion to tie the score at 7-7 each. Okehampton now pressed forward and gained the upper hand heading up to half time, despite having fly half Gareth Espin in the sin bin for a misdemeanour in the loose.

An infringement at a ruck gave Sizmur a chance at a penalty which he duly converted to give Okehampton the advantage at half time by 10–7.

There were high hopes among the travelling supporters at half time that the lads could pull off a win, but Kingsbridge came out for the second half in determined mood. Their pack was winning the ball and denying Okehampton the chance to play their game.

The Kingsbridge backs, running good lines, began to push forward and the Okes were pushed back into their own half.

After 10 minutes into the half the Kingsbridge backs worked an excellent move which created an overlap and they went in for a try which took the score back into their favour at 14-10. They repeated this feat after about another 10 minutes to lift their score to 21-10.

Midway through the second half Oke looked odds on to reduce the deficit with another interception from a loose pass, but this time the referee called them back for an infringement at the maul just before the incident.

Though the sides both pressed hard, trading tackle for tackle, the Kingsbridge players held onto the advantage and added a further three points from a penalty following an infringement at the ruck towards the end of the game. At the end Kingsbridge deserved their win but the Okehampton players showed their true grit. They kept their heads up and did not give in.