NorthOkes U15s 17 Exeter Saracens U15s 7 NORTH OKES continued their fine form with a superb performance against a rugged Saracens side despite missing their county players. The home side completely dominated the first half with the forwards dominant. Several chances went begging before Ollie Scantlebury who had a great game at number eight went over after a great drive by the forwards. Paul Winthorpe kicked the conversion. Minutes later another excellent sequence of play between NorthOkes backs and forwards saw a disallowed try. Every time Saracens cleared their line Si Fellows ran back strongly putting NorthOkes back on the attack - linking well with wings Ollie Hodgeson and Jamie Hignett. Such was their dominance that at half time it was a surprise NorthOkes did not find themselves further ahead. In the second half the match continued at a frantic pace with visitors rarely getting out of their half. Great rucking from the NorthOkes forwards with Harvey Ratcliffe, Matt Harding and Chris Pyle prominent saw Dan Curtis give plenty of ball to the backs. Si Fellows caught a clearance and from the first phase Jamie Hignett beat his man on the outside being brought down five yards out. From the second phase Chris Humphreys collected the ball and charged over, Paul Winthorpe added a difficult conversion. With Saracens unable to break out their discipline began to dismantle. From one such indiscretion Winthorpe kicked a lovely penalty to increase the lead. In the last few minutes NorthOkes relaxed their grip and Saracens bundled over for a final score. Plymstock U15s 19 Tavistock U15s 12 THIS encounter between two evenly matched sides was closely contested, with neither side able to take the upper hand for prolonged periods. Throughout the game Tavistock in particular struggled to retain possession at the breakdown and were therefore unable to mount any consistent pressure. The first quarter of the match saw all the possession and territory to Plymstock; however, Tavistock were the first to score just before the end of the first half. Having turned over possession from a Plymouth attack, Tavistock won a scrum inside their own half; a well set up switch to the blind side enabled Dan Oner at inside centre to break the Plymstock defence and score a try under the posts - which was converted by Josh Leeson. Plymstock equalised early in the second half when a chip over the Tavistock defence bounced straight into the hands of the chasing home side. Tavistock responded to retake the lead a few minutes later. A tap penalty near the Plymstock line was initially defended, but the ball was quickly recycled to James Lockley, who handed off several tackles to score Tavistock's second try. Plymstock then took a two point lead when loose handling by Tavistock in their own half resulted in a scrum to Plymstock from which the home side scored a pushover try. A finely balanced game was eventually settled in Plymstock's favour shortly before the final whistle as another pushover try was conceded from a lineout near the Tavistock line. Exeter Saracens U14s 43 Okehampton U14s 5 AN almost full strength Okehampton were hoping to improve on their earlier season performance against Saracens and for the first ten minutes there was nothing to choose between the teams. Eventually the bigger and harder running Saracens team broke through the Okehampton defence and scored their first try. The rest of the first half followed a similiar pattern with Saracens always looking more dangerous, especially out wide, and two further tries were conceded before half-time. Okehampton started to play to their strengths more in the second half by keeping it tight and driving well at rucks and mauls. Saracens again were given too much space and before long scored again. This seemed to spur Okehampton and they put together their best passage of play with forwards and backs combining to put pressure on the Saracens defence. A series of rucks and mauls led to Nathan Abrams going over from short distance for a well deserved try. From the kick off Okehampton looked full of confidence as they recycled the ball well but a mistake with a clearance kick gave possession to Saracens on the Oekhampton 22 where a soft try was conceded from the ensuing ruck. Talking back to the referee earned a yellow card and Okehampton had to kick off with a man down but still managed to pressure Saracens until a breakout from their 22 exposed the Okehampton defence again. A further try was conceded as Okehampton again were guilty of indiscipline with the referee overturning a decision in their favour to give Saracens an easy run in from a short penalty. There were still some good performances from individuals with Nathan Abrams and Lee Hughes proving a match for anyone with their driving play in the loose and Henry Cooper making the most of any scrap of possession that came his way.
