Okehampton U13s 10

Crediton U13s 40

CREDITON kicked off and a knock-on from Okehampton gave them an early scrum. Despite Oke piling on the pressure, making good, low tackles from René and Aedan and well-supported by Cameron, Harry, Alfie, Tom and Marcus, the visitors slipped through to score the first try by the second minute.

After Matt’s restart and dogged pressure from Sam, Marcus ripped the ball causing Crediton to knock-on but they successfully contested the resulting scrum. Oscar, Marcus and René increased the pressure as Crediton failed to use the ball; in the ensuing maul Oke were awarded a scrum; they maintained possession, as Aedan passed out to Matt and Tom set a ruck for René, gaining a short run before returning the ball to Tom.

A highlight for Okehampton, about four minutes in, began when a dazzling tackle from Jacob and Sam won the ball; Marcus offloaded just before getting pushed out. Sam set a ruck; Harry rucked-over, securing the ball for Aedan, who offloaded to Tom, as Crediton increased the pressure. Tom passed to Marcus, who offloaded to Jacob who made a valiant sprint for the line and, although Crediton’s defence forced him to set a ruck, his team-mates’ solid rucking skills precipitated an error from Crediton and they were penalised for coming into the ruck at the side. This trap was set again later, after a dummy pass from Tom, who then set the ruck.

As Crediton set-down their third and fourth tries under stoical pressure from Aedan, Harry, Marcus and Morgan; Oke’s team captain Tom had words to encourage Oke to maintain their line and strengthen their defence.

Okehampton then cracked-on with the attack — René with a fast and furious tackle from the restart and several fearless, showstopping tackles from Morgan and Luca.

Okehampton gained good ground throughout the second half, thanks to strong drives from Alfie, Cameron, Alex, Nathan, René and Tyler, good footwork (Tom, Morgan, Jacob, Oscar) superb tackles by Lewis, Luca, Will, Alex, Nathan, Oscar and Morgan, including try-savers from Luca and Jacob.

Several times Okehampton won the ball by pushing or running their opponents into touch (Oli, Oscar, Jacob, Seth, Sam). Oli’s push into touch gained possession for Oke, and as Alex, René and Alfie drove the ball forwards into a ruck, Sam plucked the ball and flew to the try line to score.

Okehampton’s second try was equally exciting as, after a throw-in from Will enabled Lewis to drive on and ruck, Seth secured for Alfie; a sweet pass to Tom and then to Jacob racked-up the suspense; Jacob found his gap, galloped to the line and grounded for Oke just before the final whistle. Oscar Bridger was Oke’s player-of-the-week.

South Molton U12s 0

Okehampton U12s 65

THE long trip to South Molton was not aided by the cold weather and when the sun did appear it was not enough.

A slanting pitch saw Okehampton faced with the run downhill for the opening quarter, which they used to their advantage — a swift first try from Lachs. Okehampton were quick to swarm around whoever had the ball leaving the home team little opportunity to progress.

After South Molton took Alex into touch from the scrum they kicked, they made an error which called for another scrum and another try for Lachs. Following many scrums and mauls, most of the play was in the middle of the pitch; Craddy nipped through only to have his try held up. Saul was taken into touch but soon redeemed himself by a try.

South Molton kicked, but it was caught by Josh, who passed to Shea for a great kick down the pitch towards the corner. A maul saw a South Molton slip away with the ball, but Okehampton soon piled on the pressure to keep the home team in check.

Uphill for the second half, Dan covered the ground resulting in a try for Alex. South Molton were certainly stronger working downhill — a pass to Jacob saw him quickly offload to Shea before he was taken into touch.

A South Molton kick was caught by Alex, who passed to Adam for his try. The final quarter saw two tries from Lachs and one from Saul. A maul near the tryline saw a restart and Ed burst through for a try. Will scored the final try in the dying moments of the game.

South Molton U9s 7 tries

Okehampton U9s 10 tries

OKEHAMPTON’s excellent start to the season continued as they out-played a considerably larger South Molton team.

Oke weren’t deterred by the bitterly cold wind as they again demonstrated how this group of players is really starting to gel into a well-honed team.

The visitors were impressively resolute in defence and showed great handling to keep the ball alive when going forward. Todd was consistently the first player to the ball at the tackle, repeatedly offering up quick ball to the wider runners.

Well worked multi-phase tries from Toby, Ciaran and Stanley got Oke off to a strong start. South Molton broke back well but all the Oke players showed real commitment to defend their line.

Henry showed particular speed out of defence and steal the ball leading to a great line break from Dylan, which saw him crash over for another Oke try.

Powerful running from South Molton led to a period where they were camped on the Oke line, but Oke lined up tackle after tackle and showed great strength particularly from Mikey, Wilf and Ciaran to repeatedly drive the opposition ball carrier away from the line.

The second half saw another strong start from Oke as Wilf powered through five tackles to score and Henry displayed quick footwork to dance past three defenders to score in the corner.

A fast South Molton break from their own line set up a certain score only for Jacob to throw himself into a superb last ditch tackle to bring the attacking player down inches short of the line. This gave the rest of the Oke team time to regroup and push South Molton back until eventually Oke ran out of space to defend and the opposition scored. Zara made good ground from the restart and fed the ball to Todd who spun a huge pass to release Jacob on the wing who outpaced the defence to score a well worked try. Brave tackling from Stanley, Dylan and Jacob kept South Molton trapped in their own half before further tries from Toby, Henry and Dylan sealed a comprehensive victory for Okehampton.

South Molton U7s 22 tries

Okehampton U7s 28 tries

THIS was the first away match of the season for Oke U7s. They started well with some good passing from Poppy who was playing her first game for the club.

Aiden made some good runs allowing him to score six tries, Kieran three and Oliver S and Olly W scored two each.

Okehampton showed good teamwork, with Poppy, Olly W, Jayden and Seth all tagging well. South Molton were weaving in and out of a keen Oke side to score several tries.

More tries came from Okehampton, with Harry scoring five tries, Seth who ran well to score four tries and Aiden and William scoring another two tries each. With some good defending and showing good knowledge of the game two more tries came from Sam and Kieran.