Cornwall/Devon League

Wellington 1st XV 26

Okehampton Chiefs 26

THE Chiefs ventured over the Somerset border hopeful they could return with something to show for their efforts, aware of the fact that trips away for the last two seasons have often proved fruitless.

It was the view that Wellington would be no pushover and so it proved when in the first five minutes strong forward play coupled with poor Okehampton defence led to the home side scoring the opening try, which was unconverted.

Shortly afterwards a dubious penalty was awarded to Wellington which was converted to make the score 8-0.

The Okes began to play rugby and a storming run from centre Lee Carey led to a penalty being awarded in front of the posts which he converted to make the score Wellington 8, Okehampton 3.

The Chiefs drew level when full back Buzz Brimacombe collected a loose defensive kick, chipped ahead and using deft footwork dribbled the ball over the line which he then collected to score a fine individual try.

Okehampton allowed the strong Wellington pack to dominate possession and from deep in their own 22 the Chiefs wasted several opportunities to kick the ball to touch and this eventually led to another Wellington try.

In something of a roller-coaster match, the Okehampton forwards were next to exert pressure at a set scrum, forcing a Wellington infringement which was rewarded with a penalty converted by Lee Carey to make the score Wellington 13, Okehampton 11.

Okehampton dominated possession for a period and from a half-break by centre Richard Camies the ball was moved to the blind side where captain and hooker Bruce Griffiths scored in the corner. The try was converted by Carey, to make it Wellington 13, Okehampton 18.

Just before half-time the Okehampton backs were released again and strong running from Carey resulted in a penalty in front of the posts which struck an upright, but quick thinking by fly-half Arnie Searle resulted in him dropping a goal, making the score Wellington 13, Okehampton 21.

Any hopes Okehampton may have had of increasing this lead before half-time were dashed when more inconclusive defending led to a Wellington penalty under the posts which was converted.

After the restart the Wellington forwards assumed control and following a number of rolling mauls scored another try in the corner to make it 21-21.

Some time later a similar movement ended up with the same result and Okehampton found themselves trailing by 5 points.

It began to look like a battle between the Wellington forwards and the Okehampton backs, the latter looking dangerous whenever they ran the ball. Eventually, man of the match Carey barged his way over to score a try which was not converted. This brought the scores level at 26-26.

The Chiefs will consider themselves slightly aggrieved at not returning home with a victory as in the dying moments following another beautiful passing movement and yet another storming run from Carey the final pass to number 8, Alistair Mason, was adjudged to have been forward by the referee.

Back at Oaklands Okehampton's second XV enjoyed a narrow victory over their Wellington counterparts by 12 to 9, while the Colts, playing in Somerset, suffered a narrow 15 points to 7 reverse.