Western Counties West

Bude 17

Okehampton 21

THIS was a far from perfect performance by Okehampton was definitely not one for the purist, but it did demonstrate the Okes never say die attitude.

With seven missing regulars the Okes produced a first half performance way below the standards that they set themselves.

Bude kicked off with the benefit of a hefty wind in their favour and a sizable sponsor's day lunch crowd. They began with gusto, and Oke were barely awake when the first try was scored. Left wing Dan Pearce, whose pace was a major factor all afternoon, was the beneficiary of a many phased passage of play that saw the visitors run out of defensive cover on the left flank. The winger grounded the opener after barely five minutes and added the touchline conversion.

Okehampton's reshuffled backline looked defensively ill at ease, understandable given its inexperienced make up. The scrummage was looking strong in the early exchanges though, and this enabled the visitor to enter deep into Bude's territory for the first time in the match.

The Okes had the hosts under pressure when Bude's full back sliced a kick virtually under his own posts, and an alert left wing Pearce gleefully accepted the fluke cross kick; he showed electric heels to out flank all Oke's weak efforts to stop him and ran fully 90 meters to score under the posts. The simple conversion gave the hosts a 14 point lead.

Bude extended their lead to 17 points after 35 minutes with a penalty from Pearce, before the Okes finally hit back. Right on the interval the Oke scrum set up camp in the Bude 22. Several efforts were collapsed before the inevitable push over arrived. Neil Perrott, having a sterling game number eight, controlled things at the base and claimed the pushover. Fly half Sam Ewen converted and Oke were only ten points in arrears at the break.

Part two began in exciting fashion as Oke were immediately on the front foot. Awaking slowly from their slumbers, they broke right after a midfield set piece. Full back Gareth Espin entered the line, and cut a swathe through the Cornish defence as he ran back against the grain. He linked with centre Luke Honeychurch, who fired a scoring pass to fellow centre Tom Powell, who dived over in the left corner. The touchline conversion was missed, but the Okes were now back within five points.

Bude stuck to their game plan of moving the ball wide at every opportunity, Oke's pack gradually became the dominant influence on the match. Sam Ewen added a penalty to narrow the gap to two as Oke slowly assumed control. The fly half was soon off the pitch injured though, as Bude replacement back rower James Comber was yellow carded for the high tackle. Luke Honeychurch took over the kickers' mantle and slotted the resultant penalty to put Oke in front for the first time.

Okehampton had a 'try' disallowed, before Honeychurch added another simple penalty, leaving Bude to search for a last gasp try to retrieve the match. They failed, despite a few tense moments for the Okes in the dying minutes.