Okehampton U16s 36

Honiton U16s 19

OKEHAMPTON U16s booked their place in the Fisherman’s League Shield Final with a win over a determined Honiton.

The East Devon side has not had the best run this season, but they were clearly fired up as they held Okehampton at bay for the first quarter of the match, mounting a series of attacks and defending well. Oke, however, struggled to find their rhythm until winger Marcus Hayes fielded a loose ball and carried towards the line; an excellent follow-up ruck from Noah Cracknell allowed Brad Simmons to gather and dive over for the opening score. Ewan Northcott slotted home the conversion.

Oke continued to exert pressure from the restart and following a couple of good phases the ball went through hands to James Judd, who zipped in to score. Another conversion from Ewan put Oke 14-0 ahead. Honiton, however, replied quickly, forcing the home side into errors and winning a penalty 10 metres out, from which they used forward power to score near the posts. The conversion went wide. Oke were stung but got themselves back deep into Honiton territory and despite a couple of loose rucks Will Risdon broke out and produced a lovely back door pass for Simmons to run onto; Simmons side stepped and weaved well to dot down for his second. Another conversion from Northcott made it 21-5. The restart kick was caught by Risdon, who made an outstanding carry to get the ball to well inside Honiton’s 22 but indecision saw the ball knocked on and his good work undone. Honiton’s scrum held firm and their number 10 made a scything run before offloading for their number 13 to cross and score an excellent try, which was converted to put them right back in the game. 21-12.

Dan Turney for Oke chased the restart ball and his tackle allowed Ethan Baker to steal but the attack seemed to stutter until Oke were awarded a penalty. Northcott kicked for the three points to put the home side 24-12 up at half time.

The second half started well for Okehampton, with Judd scoring a superb individual try, running from his own 22, dodging every tackle to dab down beneath the posts. Northcott converted. 31-12.

Honiton continued to press, and scored their third converted try to stay in contention at 31-19. The visitors had a player carded just after the restart for a high tackle, and from the resulting penalty Oke showed what they do best to release Judd to claim his hat-trick. Okehampton also earned a bonus point and finished top of the league. They now face local rivals Tavistock in the final.

Totnes U13s 65

Okehampton U13s 5

THE match was played in thirds and Totnes ran-up seven tries in the first third, as they robbed the ball at every opportunity and galloped to the line through a sleepy Okehampton defence.

Oke’s tackling may have been a bit sparse, but Isaac, Tom, Cameron, Lachs, Sam, Will and Adam all made their presence known at various points and Alex and Seth helped maintain some pressure, along with good efforts from Tyler.

Jacob made a good rip near centre to gain possession for the visitors, was obstructed and then Oke lost the ball in the penalty scrum. Tom’s superb clearance kick gave the Okes an advantage but Totnes quickly repossessed and scored again.

Oke bent drastically under the ruthlessness of the pressure, but in the final third they certainly went down fighting, from a scrum on their opponents’ 10 metre line, there was a flowing sequence of play between Morgan, Jacob, Sam, Tom and Aedan, yielding a good run from Jacob, a swift ruck from Tom and a brutal tackle by Cameron. Jacob, Tom, Marcus, Isaac, Luca, Nathan and Will all made good runs against heavy pressure.

Isaac’s heroic sprint was followed by a pop to Aedan, who nipped to the line to score a belated first for Oke. Tom then followed suit when the Oke won a scrum on Totnes’s 22, but the try was disallowed due to a woeful lack of clarity of the location of the dead ball zone, but it did not stop him playing on in defiance to fight for another attempt before falling victim to a sharp tackle.

Totnes kicked out and the final whistle blew. Tom’s consistently tenacious defence, great tackling efforts and sporting try attempts in the face of adversity won him Oke’s player of the week award.

OKEHAMPTON U9s were well represented at the Devon U9s rugby festival in Honiton, fielding two teams.

On an unseasonably hot day, all the players showed real determination to compete at full throttle throughout their eight matches despite the heat.

Oke showed great resolution in defence, with most opposition teams having to really fight hard to get anywhere near their try line. In attack, they demonstrated a mix of outstanding individual skill as well as some beautifully flowing moves with the whole team working together.

Okehampton enjoyed notable victories over Sidmouth, Bideford and Plymstock whilst playing out a nail biting draw with Barnstaple.

This was an excellent overall team performance by Oke resulting in multiple tries for: Jacob, Toby, Rocco, Dylan, Lily, Wilf, Stanley and Ciaran. To see both teams playing their games with an excellent attitude and a high level of sportsmanship is a great credit to the coaches.