Okehampton Colts 22

Ivybridge Colts 21

FOLLOWING the moorlanders victory at Crosshands earlier in the season, Ivybridge came to Oaklands with a strengthened outfit for the return fixture .

Early exchanges ebbed and flowed but against the flow of play, the home side gained a turn over and Luke Dennis showed some deft skills from the round ball game to kick on and win the foot race for the first score which Searle converted .

Ivybridge don't capitulate and they soon worked their way back into the game and with some missed tackles in mid-field their well renowned back line moved ball through hands efficiently for the winger to score wide with the conversion missed.

An indiscretion with a dangerous tackle saw an Ivybridge player sent off but that only seemed to motivate the visitors to greater efforts and having gained territory they caught the Okes defence off side and took the three points from the penalty to go into the lead.

The Okes regained composure and at last started to work the phases and having dragged the visitors' defence completely out of shape, the ball was moved wide for Chris Swash to score to put the home side back into the lead.

The visitors again came back at the Okes.

Showing the more aggressive edge at the breakdown they forced play into the home 22 and although the hosts defended the line out, the Ivybridge forwards recycled the ball for the 6 to crash over for an unconverted try that took the visitors into half time with a one point lead.

The second half continued in similar vain with neither team being able to gain a real hold but through some excellent tactical kicking from the Ivybridge 9, the visitors pushed the hosts back into their 22.

A well executed line out from close range saw the men in green extend their lead with an unconverted try.

The Okes back row of Pillivant, Folland and Sampson began to gain the upper hand and with bullocking runs had the Ivybridge defence on the back foot.

Ivybridge possession was being pressurised with fly half Jordan Petherbridge bringing his back line up very quickly .

The intensity of the contest between these two well matched sides meant that lack of precision was being punished, so despite the Okes efforts, the visitors were able to regularly turn over possession to relieve the pressure.

Despite the frustration, Stephen Paul's troops never faltered in their efforts and after a couple of line outs had miss fired they eventually got it right and with a well executed maul drove over the line, where Dean Abrams emerged from the bottom of the pile to claim the score.

Petherbridge nailed the pressure conversion to put the Okes back in the lead by one point.

From the restart the visitors pressed hard but were unable to break into the Oke's 22 but the mid pitch stalemate soon changed when Ivybridge were awarded a penalty.

The 9, who had a fine game, stood up and smashed the 40 metre kick to put his side back into the lead.

With the Okes final throw of the dice a penalty was awarded.

Some undisciplined back chat saw the penalty brought another 10 metres further upfield, and Jordan Petherbridge stroked the last kick of the game straight through the sticks for a 22 – 21 victory.

A terrific game that was a credit to both teams that neither really deserved to lose.

The win secured the top of the table position for the Okes and Ivybridge will join them in the second round of the Devon Cup merit table that will see these two good sides combine with Sidmouth, Topsham, Kingsbridge, Torquay and Barnstable to decide who plays in the final at the end of the season.