Western Counties West League

North Petherton 33

Okehampton RFC 12

AFTER a promising pre season, comprising of a defeat against Sidmouth and victory over Crediton alongside good attendance rates at training, the Okes travelled for their first match of the season with high hopes.

They ended the afternoon defeated and will have immediately realised that this season will be a step up in quality from the last.

The opener in Western Counties provided a trip into the unknown with a visit to Somerset side North Petherton.

The young Okehampton side played up the slight incline and against a mild breeze in the first period. The opening exchanges were fairly even as both sides began cautiously, although it soon became apparent that the two teams were both performing much better in attack than defence.

The home side used their size and weight advantage to good early effect but the visitors defence just about held firm and their lively backs looked promising on the counter attack.

After a spell of home pressure it was the visitor's backs that made the first telling inroads. The ball was moved swiftly between forwards and backs and a half break from hooker Bruce Griffiths found returning winger Matt Dennis in fine support and he ploughed over to the left of the uprights for an excellent opening score.

However, as is often the case when teams progress to a higher level, mistakes that previously would go unpunished now result in gifting more talented opposition easy points.

In the next ten minutes the Okes made three mistakes and were made to pay heavily each time. Firstly the home side began to take advantage of Oke's failure to knock them backwards in the tackle area. They started to offload in contact and when a one on one tackle was missed the home side's second row crossed for an equalising score. Unlike Oke they successfully converted the score. Then immediately from the kick off Okehampton fell off another straight on tackle and after several attacking phases the hosts created space for another of their front five to cross beside the posts. The easy conversion was put over and suddenly the whole complexion of the game had changed.

The home side's tails were now up — Okehampton had men in front of the kick off which meant a scrum on halfway and the North Petherton backs used the ball impressively to put the left winger in on the short side for a score that stretched their lead to 21-10 with barely a quarter of the match gone.

Those ten minutes of madness aside there had been many positives for Okehampton, although most of those were in attack where they created scoring chances but failed to convert any more of them. The line out was evenly contested and the set scrum had its moments.

The interval arrived and with the slope advantage Oke still had chance to claw their way back. Peter Herrod- Taylor, who provided an impressive presence in midfield, made a half break in his own 22. Matt Dennis carried the ball forward on the overlap and fed inside to full back Gareth Espin who hacked on and grounded for a swift, converted, counter attack score that put the game back within reach.

Unfortunately another series of punishing drives around the fringes finally took its toll as the home forwards crossed for another converted score to put the game effectively out of reach. Both sides made changes and the game became more fragmented. There was still time for one final try as more driving and support play created the last score which although unconverted, gave a slightly flattering look for the home side.

It may only be the first game of a long season, but Oke's aim is to consolidate and remain on this rung of the rugby hierarchical ladder. In order to do that they need to learn from this defeat and develop a game plan that will allow the side to use its own considerable talents whilst still being able to negate the oppositions' inevitable size advantage.

• Next week sees the Firsts travel for an away league encounter with Exmouth based side Withycombe, kick-off 3pm.