Okehampton U16s 11

Kingsbridge U16s 20

THIS was a great team effort by the young Okes against a strong and experienced Kingsbridge outfit.

On a hot Sunday morning, the home side played up the hill first half and soon demonstrated that they were not going to be a pushover for their much vaunted opponents. Despite falling behind to a penalty kick after 11 minutes, Oke were competing well all over the field, and soon levelled things up when centre Ben Mckenna- Smith potted over a straightforward penalty.

The first try came the visitors’ way though, when Oke allowed their strong running centre too much room out wide and he ran in around the posts to leave it 10-3 after 16 minutes.

Good kicking from hand by Leon Horne and Ben Mckenna-Smith allowed Oke to relieve their lines on several occasions. As Okehampton moved upfield they were cruelly denied a try when Mckenna-Smith was obstructed when chasing a kick ahead for what looked a certain score. The centre soon slotted another penalty to reduce the arrears to 10-6 at the break though, and the game was still in the balance.

Oke started the second period strongly, and a crisp backs move saw centre Harry Cole put through a gap but he was tackled just short and another chance was gone. It was a brief respite for the visitors however, as from an attacking line out and drive shortly after, powerhouse number eight Greg Daniel exploited a weak short side for a try that briefly saw Oke take the lead. The game then became very disjointed as the penalty count against the home side reached high levels. Oke, though, stemmed the constant tide with strong defence, but eventually the count told in the last ten minutes as two tries were conceded out wide.

The home side can be proud of this effort though; with a small squad they battled well throughout, and can look forward to the rest of the season with hopes of a successful campaign boosted by this performance.

Tavistock U15s 0

Devonport Services U15s 14

THE start of a new season for the Tavistock U15 team saw a strong start against one of the top teams in Devon.

The game was finely poised with no scores at all in the first 25 minutes, but a flash of inspiration from Devonport saw them break away with a chip kick through to score their first try.

The second half was again close but another late try down the wing saw the game sealed for Devonport. There was, however, some strong defensive work from Tavistock with the captain Jon Lord, Archie Allen and Olly Noy Scott standing out. Great tackling and chasing from Freddie Williams and a tenacious workrate from Tom Pearson at scrum half and Jason Blake winning the ball in the scrum against the put in which kept Tavistock in the game throughout. There were some good positives for Tavistock against one of their strong rivals this year.

Torquay U15s 27

Tavistock U15s 22

CLEAR blue skies greeted Tavistock’s arrival at Torquay for what turned out to be a great game of rugby.

Tavistock started with an outstanding try from Freddie Williams who flew down the wing after good work from the the back line of Luke Lewandowski, Zac Gorton and Josh Davies.

Torquay fought back with a try but great work by the Tavistock forwards saw a pick and go try by Tom Mackenzie-Philps. Torquay scored again but an inspired and perfectly weighted grubber kick from Jude White saw him chase down his own kick and score. The half time score was 17-10 to Tavistock but Torquay fought back with some strong forward substitutions.

They scored three tries on the bounce taking the score to 17-27 but a late try by Josh Davies saw a close finish. Four tries from Tavistock and finishing within seven points shows how close the game was and again the whole team did themselves proud by putting in a great commitment and 100 per cent effort.

ON one of those wonderful days in September with unbroken sunshine and green grass underfoot, the Tavistock U13 girls’ rugby side produced some good rugby and all the girls agreed that the afternoon had been great fun.

The round robin is designed to get as much playing time as possible at the beginning of the season. Three local under 13 teams — Cullompton, Launceston and Crediton came to Tavistock for the ’tournament.’

The start of play was slightly disjointed, as some of the girls had not played previously and needed reminding of the basic rules. However, soon the games began to flow with the ball being passed freely.

Kayleigh Young in her first game carried the ball and offloaded well. Her tackling became fierce and she rarely let the opposition pass. Charlotte Crocker, while slight of build, darted and ran with the ball and scored five tries in the three matches.

Tavistock had a successful campaign drawing with Launceston, and beating both Crediton and Cullompton. This was an extremely pleasing first result.