Devon and Cornwall League Okehampton Chiefs 22 Tiverton 14 THE Chiefs deservedly secured two vital league points from this encounter against Tiverton who were in fourth place in the table before the match. It was a much more committed and cohesive performance from the Okes and more of the same will be required if relegation is to be avoided. With the welcome return of Lee Carey to the side the Chiefs were able to call on the services of their first choice place kicker and after twenty minutes he was able to slot over a penalty following a Tiverton infringement to give the Okes a 3:0 lead. It stayed that way until five minutes from half time when, following some concerted forward pressure, a rolling maul went to ground a metre short of the line and fly half Buzz Brimacombe nipped in to retrieve the loose ball and crash over. The try was unconverted but on the stroke of half time the forwards secured some good rucked ball which was popped to second row B J Chapman taking the ball at pace. He broke the first line of defence with barely a finger laid on him and cantered in under the posts from 40 metres. This was converted by Lee Carey to make the half time score Okehampton 15: Tiverton 0. The Okes turned round to play up the slope and into the wind and although they had a 15 point advantage it was always apparent that the next score would be crucial. Fortunately, it was the Okehampton pack who were to take matters into their own hands once more and following a fine series of drives livewire hooker, Bruce Griffiths scampered over. The try was once again converted by Carey to give the Okes a 22:0 lead. Tiverton then began to assert themselves and after some fifteen minutes of the second period a short range line out was driven over wide out and the try was converted by fly half Steve Cockram to make the score Okehampton 22 Tiverton 7. Okehampton then had to withstand a long period of pressure before Tiverton scored a very similar try which was again converted with, as most of the crowd thought, some five to ten minutes remaining. However, the referee had other ideas as due to the large number of stoppages during the second half there were some seventeen minutes of injury time to play. Despite Okehampton scrum half Steve Cook being yellow carded the Okes defence remained resolute with the outstanding Harry Bushin filling in the scrum half role. When the final whistle eventually went the relief in the grandstand and among the Okehampton players was palpable.
