Lovell Sports U15 Knockout Cup
first round
Newton Abbot U15s 6
Okehampton U15S 15
Okehampton started strongly with recycled ruck ball passed to outside centre Richard Bolt, a miss-move giving him the initial space to accelerate through the first tackle and round the defence for a 60-yard try converted by Andy Herrod-Taylor.
Newton Abbot woke up and rucked Okehampton upfield. Successive penalties finally brought them into range and their fly half struck a penalty for three points.
Both sides struggled to gain the upper hand and play moved up and downfield with excellent play, the half ending 7-3 to Okehampton.
Newton Abbot restarted the stronger and added three points with an excellent kick as Okehampton?s forwards were penalised for offside at the ruck.
The following ten minutes were tense for both sides as committed tackling prevented a score. Dean Beardon and Jack Preston on the wings tackled like demons and Gary Sizmur played his best game ever at scrum half.
Okehampton used the kicking game to get into scoring range and took their chance from a penalty in the 22, scoring three points from the boot of Andy Herrod-Taylor to lead 10-6.
Newton Abbot then worked their way upfield and were stopped inches from the try-line before being awarded another penalty within kicking range. The kick veered to the side of the posts and short. Simon Cox caught the ball committed the tackler and released Richard Bolt for a storming run from one 22 to the other and from the right side of the pitch to the left.
Ensuing rucks brought play to within five yards of the try line. Short forward drives were driven back by the home defence before the ball went blind for Herrod-Taylor to hand off his opposition centre for the try. The conversion from near the touchline bounced off the post but the match was won.
Okehampton U12s 21
Launceston U12s 21
THIS was a better team performance against a strong Launceston.
Okehampton started well with the forwards of Mason Whittle and Robert Long driving hard, supporting each other to break tackles and gain ground. These two caused Launceston problems and were well supported by Tom McGratton who is gaining confidence with every game.
Good forward play took the ball close to the Launceston line with Will Heard at scrum-half picking up and darting around the blind side, but just being held up. The ball was worked back by the forwards and Heard slipped in to score.
Launceston kicked deep into the corner and poor defence allowed them a soft try.
Okehampton forwards then put the pressure on and Mason peeled off a maul to score.
In the second half Launceston were first to score. Then Okehampton drove well at Launceston with David Binns having good runs at centre, Jake Chisholm and James Heard all gaining ground, but determined tackling holding them out. Ricci Cobb went over in the corner but was driven into touch before grounding the ball.
Mason finally broke the deadlock by driving over to score and put Okehampton back into the lead. Launceston managed to score in injury time to draw a good game.
Tom Brown converted all three tries.
Okehampton U12s 7
St Austell U12s 0
OKEHAMPTON fielded three new players, Jonathan Trussler, Stuart Bennie and Michael Allin, and made positional changes.
This was St Austell?s first game of the season and they had some big boys who tackled well and made life hard for the tired Okehampton pack.
But Mason broke from a maul on the halfway and went on the blind to sprint in to score the only try of the game, converted by Tom Brown.