Devon and Cornwall League Okehampton first XV 38 Honiton first XV 8 ON a beautiful afternoon for rugby, Oke duly dispatched their East Devon visitors and in doing so continued to keep alive their outside chance of promotion to Western Counties West. With the visitors surprisingly electing to play with the slope, the early exchanges were fairly even as the visitors' large pack secured good set piece possession but their backs lacked a cutting edge. Okehampton are in a rich vein of form and this has now given them the confidence to spread the ball wide. This they did in abundance, and the home backs showed good hands and pace on several occasions to stretch the visitors' rearguard. It came as no surprise that Oke opened the scoring through their young backline. Scrummage ball was moved right and after good handling fly half Luke Wonnacott looped around to score in the clubhouse corner. The conversion was missed but Oke had already realised that moving the large visitors' pack around would be the key. Possession continued to be evenly matched although Oke had ascendancy in the set scrum. Lee Carey made a good break up the left wing and with support inside the ball eventually found its way to scrum half Joey Bruce who scampered over between the sticks for a fine score. Carey converted and at 12-0 the home fans were hoping for another large points tally. Another try did follow soon after — more good hands and incisive running lines by the backs created the space for player coach Brett Luxton to gallop over and stretch the lead to 19-0 approaching the interval. It is to Honiton's credit that they didn't fold after this onslaught and the hoped for try fest never quite happened. The Lacemen had their best spell of the match either side of the interval. First they kicked a penalty to leave the half time score at 19- 3. Then, as the second half began they took a quick tap penalty from which their standout player, number eight Nathan Hannay crashed over. The conversion was missed, but at 19-8 this was a wake up call for Oke and the visitors never threatened again. Pressure in the bottom right corner allowed Oke to drive a rolling maul and Simon Cox poached the try. Next up it was a sniping run through the middle of a breakdown situation and hooker Bruce Griffiths crossed to score, which Lee Carey duly converted. The last score was another belter as winger Gareth Espin was released on the overlap and ran around under the posts, Carey converted to wrap up the scoring and another two league points were in the bag. This was another efficient, confident display by Okehampton. The handling and support play were signs of a side in form. The team now has a belief and several different avenues of attack. The youngsters are growing into their roles and this week's trip to high flying Cullompton promises to be a cracker. Oke arrive as underdogs but with a confident, settled side; so a tight game could well be the order of the day.
