Western Counties West

Burnham on Sea 34

Okehampton 17

On a beautiful Spring day Okehampton were away to title-challenging Burnham-on-Sea, who were beaten by the Okes earlier in the season at Oaklands.

Kicking off on a reasonable surface after all the rain on the Somerset levels the Okes had the better of the opening exchanges.

They gave the ball plenty of air and Burnham were looking under pressure. After 16 minutes, Luke Honeychurch fielded the ball inside his own half and burst through several attempted tackles before putting Jordan Petherbridge over for a try under the posts. Petherbridge himself made the easy conversion.

The Okes continued to apply pressure and the scrum was holding its own against a well drilled and physically strong opposing eight.

The Burnham line speed in defence was also posing problems for the visitors with Jordan Petheridge getting caught in possession on the half line and conceding a penalty. The Oke line-out was also struggling to deal with a much bigger set of forwards. Despite this, the Okes continued to tackle strongly in what was turning out to be an open game with play going from end to end. Dean Andrews was just denied a try by a good tackle after excellent handling by the pack.

Back came Burnham and after 35 minutes following a great marauding run by their forwards and threes the Okes conceded another penalty which was converted.

With the first half coming to an end Rob Fishleigh was well tackled by full back Tom Chaffey to prevent what looked like another certain try for Oke. Right on the stroke of half time great work by Oke put Tom Powell over for a try wide out which was well converted by Jordan to make the score Burnham 3 Okehampton 17 at the interval.

The second half began with no clue of what was to come. In the first minute the Okes were awarded a penalty for offside. Shortly after, a line-out 20 metres from the Oke line was turned into a rolling maul by Burnham resulting in a try scored by number eight Stuart Blake and converted by Tim Piper.

The signs were ominous for the visitors as the Burnham pack began to exert a large measure of control especially in the set pieces.

The Okes experienced probably the most torrid 40 minutes they have endured all season as Burnham turned the screw up front. Not all was lost though. Jordan Petherbridge put in a great up and under kick which resulted in an Oke penalty converted by him. Another try from hooker Mike Hocking converted by Piper saw the teams draw level.

Unlike the first half most of the play was now in the Oke half. To their credit the young Okes did not let their heads drop and the forwards continued to tackle well led by man-of-match for Oke, Dean Abrams.

At this stage, the physical superiority of the Burnham eight really began to show. Burnham took the lead for the first time with a push over try by number eight Blake under the Okes' posts. The conversion was good to make it 27-17. Another Oke scrum was dismantled by the Burnham eight resulting in a penalty and a further three points from Piper.

The visitors were now beginning to fall off tackles after their earlier sterling efforts. After 77 minutes Burnham scored the bonus point try that they so desperately wanted to keep them in touch with Ivybridge at the top of the table.