South West one (west)

Okehampton 40

Keynsham 12

THE Okes rounded off their second season in this league with a six try victory that secured the club’s highest ever final league position. 

Visitors Keynsham arrived just three days after losing in their County Cup final, and they  unsurprisingly failed to keep pace with a lively Oke performance that had the large President’s day crowd fully entertained throughout.

The home side won the toss and played up the slope in the first half. After a few early nervous moments the Okes soon settled and the relatively firm surface proved to their liking. After seven minutes a Ryan Lee led chase forced a penalty which was unfortunately pulled wide by Richie Friend, starting at outside half this weekend.

Just a minute later a neat grubber was gathered by Brandon Horn who looked to have opened the scoring only to be pulled back for a foot in touch. The Okes were not to be denied though, and their early ascendancy was rewarded in the 15th minute. After several phases the ball was moved left to second rower Karl Pearce and his powerful charge and a hand off saw the Oke lock ploughed over wide out. Richie Friend stepped up and landed a tricky conversion from out wide to make it 7-0 to the home side.

The next ten minutes saw the visitors establish a modicum of territory and possession, but errors allowed Okes to regain momentum and in the 26th minute the hosts found themselves back on the attack deep in the Keynsham 22.

The visitors were struggling to bring the Oke runners to ground and found themselves powerless to prevent the second Oke score. Once more it was the Oke’s second row that did the damage, this time it was the turn of lock Brad Curtis as he cut a lovely angle and bullocked his way over mid way out on the Okes left. Richie Friend landed another two pointer to extend the margin.

The Okes were in no mood to relent and straight from the restart Tom Powell intelligently planted a sweet kick to the Keynsham 22. The visitors’ lineout was snaffled by the Okes and scrum half Gary Sizmur, putting in a man of the match performance, sniped up the blindside for a classic poacher’s score. Yet again Friend converted and at three tries ahead up the slope, the Okes were dominant.

The remainder of the first half saw Keynsham thwarted by a combination of decent Oke’s defence and errors from the visitors. The Okes were happy when the half time whistle arrived at 21 points up.

The first real incision of the second half arrived after 47 minutes. Martin Harrison- Browne  broke from a midfield scrum and fed scrum half Gary Sizmur. The Oke number nine broke clear before sliding through a deft grubber which was perfectly located for the onrushing Ryan Lee who dived over to extend the Okes’ lead also securing the try bonus point. Richie Friend converted with aplomb from the right touchline to make it 28-0 to the Okes.

Keynsham were not done yet and they spent the next period testing the Oke resolve in the home half. Drives from penalties were held up on the Oke’s line and a five metre scrum was awarded on 57 minutes, from which number eight Jack Weston powered over on the blind side to open the scoring for the visitors. The conversion was wide but at 28-5 the travelling fans had something to cheer about.

The Okes soon build up a series of attacks of their own. On 64 minutes ball was spun left ,and once again it was Karl Pearce who found himself in the wide channels and cruised over for the Oke’s fifth try to make it 33-5. The visitors responded as the match entered the last ten minutes; again their pack testing the Okes close range defence. Okes were repeatedly pulled up for offside leading to a merited penalty try for the visitors. At 33-12, and with a minute to go when Martin Harrison-Browne broke clear.and offloaded to the supporting Gary Sizmur, who raced over to bag his own personal brace.. Friend converted again and there was little time for anymore action. 

This was another strong home win for the Okes in what has been a season of change and development. Thirteen wins and 13 defeats leaves the Okes nicely placed in fifth at the end of this campaign. There is lots to be proud of this season and with many youngsters taking their chance and improving weekly the Okes are in a good place to push on next term, when they will be back on the newly refurbished front pitch.

The season rounds off with the traditional end of season awards evening at the club on May 26.