Devon Senior Cup 1st Round Honiton RFC 1st XV 10 Okehampton RFC 1st XV 6 THE Okes started with vigour but soon realised that the Honiton pack were a bit more streetwise and powerful than the level of opposition that they came across last season in Devon One. Honiton converted a fairly straightforward penalty opportunity to give them a 3-0 lead after ten minutes. Okehampton began to settle, and worked their way downfield and Honiton started to concede penalty offences at the breakdown. From the second of these penalties, Oke fly half ?Buzz? Brimmacombe levelled the scores. Controlling most of the territory, Okehampton were unable to find a cutting edge through a stubborn Honiton defence. However, halfway through the first period their endeavour was rewarded with another well struck penalty from fly half Brimmacombe to give the visitors a 6-3 lead. A long touch find from Brimmacombe set up another kickable penalty but surprisingly Oke decide to take a quick tap which ended disappointingly. Just before the interval Okehampton lost influential number eight Ali Mason to the sin bin. His opposite number joined him and the rest of the half passed without any further noticeable incident. Okehampton led 6-3 at the interval, knowing that having to play uphill in the second half, they would need to dig deep to get the win against a side that only lost once at home all last season. Honiton dominated territory for long periods. The young Okehampton defence, with experienced centre Adam Curtis leading the way, defended heroically. Oke absorbed sustained pressure on their line and it seemed as though a hard fought victory was still possible. However, eventually the pressure told when Honiton?s inside centre went through to score under the posts leaving his fly half with an easy conversion. Honiton had the lead 10-6, and with a decent share of the second half remaining Oke were up against it. Oke did venture into the opposition 22 as time ran out, but their continued lack of good first phase possession stifled any chance of victory. This week away at Wellington. Honiton U16 10 Okehamton U16 40 IN the first game of the season the U16s travelled to Honiton with only 13 players. Honiton kindly lent Okehampton a player. The better ball handling and decision making of the Okehampton side led to tries being scored at regular intervals. Centre Rory Honeychurch scored the first, second row Stuart Bennie crashed over from a line-out, No 8 Rob Long scored either side of half-time, prop Tom scored off the back of a forward drive and centre David Binns sprinted in from almost halfway. Second row Mike Aylen won plenty of good line-out ball and the new partnership at half-backs of Richard Friend and Carl Poynton worked well. Poynton converted five out of six ? two from the side line. If you fancy trying rugby come and join this successful team . Anyone interested in joining us contact Phil Friend on 01837 871230.
