Devon merit

Topsham Colts 24

Okehampton Colts 7

Okehampton’s Colts’ league season continued with a visit to Topsham with a mixed bag performance

The game opened superbly for them, with captain Noah Cracknell chasing a good kick by fly half and Josh Burgoyne dotting down after just 55 seconds, and so their hopes were high that the lads would build on this great start.

Topsham, one of the top teams in the league, have a strong forward line and they responded quickly with an unconverted try.

Okehampton were not rattled and they continued to attack strongly, getting themselves into Topsham’s 22, where they camped down for ten minutes. However, the home side kept the visitors at bay and they eventually won a penalty to clear their lines while Okehampton ended up with nothing to show for their efforts. This proved to be the turning point, as Topsham began to take control and Okehampton’s energy dropped off. Despite equal possession in the first half, Topsham took all their chances and were 19-7 up at the break.

The second half was a disjointed affair, mainly due to the referee suffering an injury not long after the restart that meant he could not continue. The game may have been abandoned, but fortunately a replacement was found. It was the home side that restarted with more determination, whereas Okehampton were lacklustre, allowing Topsham to get another score. This seemed to galvanize Okehampton, and again they got themselves into an excellent scoring position but unable to capitalise.

However, Oke did put up a sterling defence to stop Topsham claiming any more points, and in the last five minutes showed some real fire - it was a shame that they couldn’t have played this way for the whole game.