Tavistock U12s 5 tries

Okehampton U12s 1 try

OKEHAMPTON won the toss and team captain, Tom, sensibly elected to kick-off downhill on a windswept pitch that soon turned into a mudbath.

The visitors went straight for the jugular, with Sam, Seth and Tom’s ardent, early tackling, demonstrating the team’s ferocity. Along with a great pass sequence (Elliot, Matt, Ioan, Tom, Marcus), a determined drive (Cameron), and some great pressure from Sam and the whole team, Oke held Tavistock off their first try.

Marcus’s clean receiving catch and swift pass to Ioan enabled Okehampton to make a good run before losing the ball amongst Tavistock’s strong defence. Despite Tom’s heroic chase, Tavi’s try scorer flew to the line unimpeded.

Oke answered back with increased pressure (Aedan, Isaac, Tyler, Sam) ending in a stunning rip by Isaac to reclaim the ball. Oke chased up well, but lost possession close to their try line. The first quarter ended with Tavistock two tries up.

Kicking off the second quarter, Elliot and Seth worked hard to gain ground and with Aedan clinging to the ball for all he was worth, he took a strong run up the middle from the next scrum. A good attempt to keep the ball live with a prompt pass failed and, as Tavistock was awarded a penalty scrum in their third of the pitch, they quickly passed the ball out and downed a third try.

Throughout the second quarter, there was excellent play from both sides and the Okes frequently showed off their rucking skills (Aedan, Elliot, Matt, Morgan, Tom) while maintaining constant pressure. An opportunistic run from Tavistock was skilfully thwarted by Marcus. Unperturbed, Tavistock pressed the ball forward and scored again.

Matt re-started play with a decent kick but Tavistock were sharp to the ball. Although the Okes gave good chase, they were outpaced on the deep, slippery mud.

Seth and Tom doggedly upped the pressure in the second half. Cameron’s quick-thinking kept the ball in Oke’s possession and he then clung steadfastly to the ball during an onslaught of attempted rips. Towards the end of the third quarter, Oke passed the ball out along the line and, after some swift rucks (Tom, Cameron) the ball passed from Matt, Ioan, Sam, Tom and Ethan who then drove hard with some great pressure (Harry) just before the whistle.

Oke started the final quarter well with straight running, good tackling and superb passing and a rip-and-pass manoeuvre from Isaac to Morgan.

The pressure on Tavistock heightened and as Elliot received a pass from Tom, he took the ball forward before passing out to Ioan who tore away to ground it for a well-deserved Oke score.

Okehampton U11s 25

Ivybridge U11s 20

THIS was a great game between teams of equal abilities. The muddy conditions made a slow game which was more suited to the forwards than the faster backs.

Throughout the game, the Ivybridge team’s strength was their passing while Okehampton’s was their defence.

The first quarter caused the home team to panic as the visitors were on the attack from the outset and managed to break through for a try. Their try count would have been a lot higher were it not for the endless defence that Oke put up and the held up balls which Ivybridge just could not put down.

A break for Saul to score the first try for Oke was followed by Adam scoring two in the first half.

The second half saw many of the players tiring in the muddy conditions; Ivybridge continued with their safe hands, while Oke were not quite so good with several dropped balls. Two fine tries from Dan to Ivybridge’s one sealed the game.

Well done to the Oke lads as this was a physically demanding game due to the team they were playing and the weather; also well done to the Ivybridge team for their game and discipline.

Tavistock U9s 12

Okehampton U9s 0

TAVISTOCK battled the weather as well as the opposition in horrendous conditions at Sandy Park. But they made a great match of it with some excellent try scoring and defending.

Great tackling from the start from William Ty allowed Ernie to pick up a loose ball and weave his way through the Oke defence to score the first of his hat-trick of tries.

Even though the rain made the ball very slippery the Tavstock team put together some great passing; Lex, George M, Nathan and Dan working well together to send Dan in for two tries.

There was some fearless tackling from Gabriel, Dan and James and the pressure paid off twice when Nathan snatched up loose ball and raced through to score. He too scored a hat-trick in the game. There was great support work from Jack, James, William TY and Max, who scored too.

Tavistock U9s 14

Okehampton U9s 3

THERE was more good tackling in this game and Tavistock really stepped up with an impressive defence. William A for Tavistock picked up a dropped ball, powering through to score the first of seven tries in this match.

Lovely tackling from Michael, Tom and Finlay helped keep Oke at bay, although they did score and kept things even for a while.

William E for the home side found some great space and used his pace to score a hat-trick and there were some lovely team work tries, with Michael, Dominic, Finlay, Joe and William A combining well with some great passing rugby.

Powerful tackling from Matthew and Finlay turned the ball over into Tavistock possession several times in the game and they were unlucky not to score. Tom and Lewis both made great jinking runs to score three times between them. 

Tavistock U9s

Okehampton U9s

ON a windy, wet and cold day Okehampton went to Tavistock Rugby Club with only eight players and came up against a strong 20 player squad. Okehampton battled hard to score with two tries from James and one try from Hector, just not quite enough to beat the many tries from Tavistock.

Oke showed some good support running but needed to be a little quicker off the whistle to beat a quicker, stronger opposition. Oke showed grit and determination during a long game in difficult conditions, where their opponents could field two different sides.