South West one West

Okehampton 17

Drybrook 20

OKEHAMPTON lost at home for only the second time this season after a disappointing second half showing.

The Okes will be wondering how they contrived to lose another tight encounter, this time at home, as a 14 point advantage was squandered against the in form visitors. Drybrook arrived on a roll, while the Okes were again forced into changes. The continued absence of Gareth Evans forced flanker Simon Cox into hooker, although Dean Abrams did return to the bench after a four-week lay off. Tom Powell was also restored to the midfield as Oke looked to continue their impressive home form.

Conditions were surprisingly firm for the time of year as the Okes kicked-off down the slope first half. Drybrook were the first to trouble the scorers as they landed an early penalty through Treharne after Okes were penalised for not rolling away five minutes in. Oke responded and took play back into the visitors’ half where they gained a similar penalty award two minutes later.

Cox, in his unfamiliar hooker role, performing impressive work at the breakdown forcing the pen. Tom Powell stepped up and slotted the kick to level the scores.

At this point the Okes seemed in control, although Drybrook did miss a long range penalty chance as both sides tested each other out.

The visitors caused Okehampton issues at the breakdown, as the home side failed to clear out in sufficient numbers, allowing unnecessary turnovers to result. Despite this, it was the Okes mainly on the front foot and several half chances came and went before the opening try arrived.

Richie Friend was busy sniping and had already tested the Drybrook fringe defender before he finally broke through after 21 minutes,  only to be caught just short. A looping pass found the on-rushing Neil Perrott, who forced his way over, under the bar for the Oke’s opening five pointer. Powell converted.

The situation improved considerably for the home side after 30 minutes when a telegraphed long pass was intercepted by Oke right winger Luke Honeychurch. A clear run in resulted to touch down. Powell popped over the extras and at 17-3 Oke looked to be in command, particularly in the scrum.

From the restart Oke allowed the opposition back into the game unnecessarily. A sliced kick to touch allowed the Forest side a chance to roll a maul and gain a penalty. Treharne slotted it to give the visitors hope. The interval arrived shortly thereafter but a 11-point lead to Okehampton still looked to be a decent margin.

The second half kicked off and Okes were soon on the attack, but on numerous occasions they took wrong options or fell foul of the ref while deep in the red zone. Errors began to creep into the host’s game and they began to lack pattern and clarity of thought.

After 55 minutes the Okes gained another penalty chance in the Drybrook 22 and opted not to go for posts which would’ve put them two converted scores clear. This was to prove a turning point. The scrum had previously been under pressure at the last set piece so Okes opted to tap and go, but a knock-on relived the pressure.

Entering the last quarter Oke brought increased pressure on themselves. Changes were made, but Drybrook began to retain the ball and after a rare foray into the Okes 22 they took advantage of a missed tackle to plough over for a converted try. Barely five minutes later another unnecessary penalty allowed the visitors more territory, and they exposed Oke’s lack of sufficient guards at ruck time to score another five pointer and gain a precious three point lead with less than ten minutes remaining.

The Okes advanced towards the line but when the final whistle did arrive, they knew they had yet again contrived to lose another game that should have been theirs, the rub of the green has definitely not been in the Okes favour recently. A familiar story, but all part of the learning curve that is promotion and the challenges associated with a higher level of rugby. However, newly promoted and boasting a young side almost completely drawn from its own youth ranks, each defeat this season has been a narrow one for the boys in maroon and amber and could so easily have gone the other way.

Indecisiveness , wrong options and infringe-ments are all punished in this league and it takes time to seek methods to counteract that. The Okes are in a good place, the seconds continue their march on at the top of Devon Merit table one.