Okehampton U10s . . 10
Ivybridge U10s . . . . . .5
PLAYING against one of the best sides in their age group, Okehampton played tremendous rugby in very difficult conditions.
In the opening exchanges Ivybridge showed how dangerous they were after putting together several passages of play to open their account in the corner.
This jolted Okehampton into action and the forwards through Thom White, Buster Francis and Chris Courtier drove the ball into Ivybridge territory.
Matt Johns at scrum half was able to give good ball to Dan Curtis, who fed the backs at every opportunity. After an excellent passage of play between backs and forwards and with the Ivybridge backs sucked in Henry Cooper ran in from ten yards unopposed.
Quicker to the breakdown, Okehampton's forwards rucked and mauled as a unit and almost immediately scored their second try through Matt Johns. With the ball being released quickly, George Speak, Tom Aylen and Ollie Kirby in the backs had good opportunities to increase the score before half-time, but valiant Ivybridge defence kept them at bay.
In the second half with the wind at their backs Ivybridge mounted many attacks. With Buster Francis now in the backs he and Dan Curtis tackled relentlessly to keep Ivybridge from scoring. In the forwards Graham Bennie, Thom White and Chris Courtier began to win lineouts and scrums and take the game back to Ivybridge. From these both forwards and backs put together excellent passages of play and for the last five minutes of the half it was Okehampton who were pressing the Ivybridge line. In the end Okehampton held out for a superb victory.
Although Okehampton won the match the standard of rugby from both sides was excellent in difficult conditions and kept a large crowd enthralled to the final whistle.