THERE was no senior Okehampton rugby this week due to the wet weather. The heavy rain that fell over the past week, and especially on Friday night, left the pitches absolutely saturated with puddles of standing water. A pitch inspection at 8.30am made the decision to cancel the games for the day. To have played the games would have caused serious damage to the pitches which would have had a knock on effect for the rest of the season, causing even more games to be cancelled.

The second XV had been due to entertain Bideford seconds in the Devon Merit table one and Oke Colts were to take on Ivybridge in the Colts’ league. The first XV were due to travel to Saltash RFC to their Western Counties (West) encounter but that, too, was cancelled because of a waterlogged pitch. As all three games were league games they will have to be rearranged at a later date.

Dave Potter, the club secretary, told the Times: ‘One positive benefit of the enforced layoff is that some of the players who suffered injuries at the start of the season are getting closer to making a full recovery.

‘All junior rugby on Sunday was also cancelled because of the pitch conditions. Taken together over the weekend, and taking into account the opposition teams who also missed out, a huge number of players and supporters missed out on their sport. In such circumstances the club also misses out on a large amount of revenue which is vital to the running of the club and its future plans.

‘If anyone doubted the need for the club’s Pitches Projects to improve the pitches and provide new playing surfaces, this is the proof that it is absolutely necessary. It may look as though there is plenty of grass on the pitches, but it is already getting sparse in places, and playing on it on days like these would have ruined a whole lot more.

‘The club’s plans for improving the pitches are moving ahead and the back pitch will have new drainage installed and be resurfaced in the summer of 2016 with the main pitch being worked on in 2017. It is a very costly proposition but hopefully scenes such as those in the photographs will then be a thing of the past, or at least become much less frequent and disruptive.’