Okehampton U14s 40

EXETER Chiefs kicked off this cup quarter final at Oaklands, on a wet, muddy pitch.

Within minutes the Okehampton boys gathered the ball, and worked it out to Alex Arthurs on the wing; he ran half way down the pitch, and round under the posts, before putting the ball down, for the first try of the game. Liam Wilkins duly converted.

Okehampton kept the pressure up, and soon after, Josh Bush went across the Chiefs' line to score the second. Again Wilkins converted.

Although the conditions made handling the ball difficult, Okehampton kept trying to pass the ball; this paid dividends when, just before half time, Bush gathered the ball and went on a great weaving run, before passing the ball to Dean Folland, who dived over the line to score. Unfortunately, Wilkins just missed the conversion.

Okehampton kicked off the second half 19-0 up, and continued to pressure the Chiefs, and keep them pinned in their own half.

The Okes' scrum-half Luke Vincent passed to full back Deane Andrew, who made good progress out to the wing, before feeding the ball to flanker Paul Penberthy, who cut back inside, and dived over the try line right beside the posts. Wilkins successfully converted.

Just as the Chiefs were re-starting after the try, the heavens opened, and the players were swamped by a heavy hail-storm!

Play continued and Andrew gathered the ball, and crossed the line for a try, which again Wilkins converted.

With such a commanding lead, Okehampton were able to make changes and brought on three of their five substitutes.

Chiefs rallied a little towards the end but any promising moves were cut short due to great tackling from both James Balch and Luke Dennis.

Okehampton finished off another great team performance with a final try from Bush, which was successfully converted by Wilkins.

Okehampton now progress to the semi-finals to face either Exeter Saracens or Tavistock.

Sidmouth U13s 41

North Okes U13s 10

THIS was a match where North Okes were out- performed in every area. In the first half Sidmouth ran in five tries and converted two of them. The home side sucked the backs into contact and then moved the ball out wide making the most of their quick wings.

In the second half, Sidmouth ran in another two tries and they kicked one conversion.

The North Okes livened up and started taking the game back with tries from Billy Searle and Alfie Hawker.

North Okes tried hard but were just outplayed on the day.

North Okes U12s 56

Sidmouth U12s 0

North Okes totally dominated the game from start to end playing one of their best performances of the season due to all round commitment from every one of their players.

Charlie Gulsworthy led the forwards with Matt Milton,Tom Pengelly and Ben Sharp securing all lineout balls; they got clean ball out to scrum half Marcus Hoddinott, feeding Rhys Palmer to offload to Daniel Fogerty who scored.

Ryan Gross for North Okes caught the ball at the restart with close support from George Courtier and Josh Punchard setting up good ball for Robbie Griffiths to run but he was tackled just short of the line.

Sidmouth ran the ball back at North Okes but Ollie Francis and Declan Coyle's tackling was too strong for the visitors to break through.

For a short period towards the end of the game Sidmouth came back at North Okes threatening to put points on the board but full-back Jack Davey cleaned up with a cracking kick to touch leaving a well deserved result to the home side.

Okehampton U10s 5

Sidmouth U10s 20

OKEHAMPTON U10s came up against a determined and well drilled Sidmouth team who scored a quick try after some weak defence by the home side. A superb try saving tackle from Jonathon Marais seemed to wake up the team with further excellent tackling from Johnny King, Daniel Thorne, Tom Bayley and William Bentley-Lovell, restricting Sidmouth to a further two tries before a torrential hail-storm sent everyone running for cover.

After the break Okehampton raised their game and a series of attacks led to Johnny King catching a lineout ball and driving over for a well deserved try.

Okehampton continued to attack to no avail with Sidmouth defending well and breaking away to score the final try. There were some good performances for Okehampton from James Cox, Patrick Beacom and Jonathon Marais.

Okehampton U9s 10

Sidmouth U9s 10

IT is a tribute to the advancement of all the Oke boys that they turned a 60 point deficit against a Sidmouth early this season into a draw within a few months.

The weather was horrendous and the pitch soggy.

Oke had a good start though as the ever elusive Leon Horne jinked his way in for another impressive score. The sheer commitment and effort put in by both sides had to be commended.

Sidmouth drew level before the turnaround and soon after the interval took the lead as Oke switched off for a few minutes.

The home players then found extra effort and the whole side came together to play a superb last few minutes as they pushed for the equalising score. Finally they got their just rewards as Gregory Daniel crashed over to gain a well deserved try to level.

The final whistle went soon afterwards and both sides should be congratulated for their part in a game of intensity, physicality and commitment.

Okehampton U8s 7 tries

Sidmouth U8s 12 tries

OKEHAMPTON battled hard to contain a much faster and stronger Sidmouth team. The conditions did not help either side, with the wind and hailstones making for slippery conditions.

It was difficult to show any flowing play and most of Sidmouth's tries happened after missed tags from Oke – allowing their stronger players to run straight down the line.

However, Okehampton did not give up and some excellent tagging led to a turn-over of the ball in the last few minutes of the first half. This was followed by a great run by Harry, passing to Daniel who was tagged by the line. He managed to hand off the ball to Tom, who went over for a much deserved try after some good team work.

The scoreline at half time did not reflect the nature of the game and Okehampton came out determined to pull back the deficit. Again, they displayed good teamwork, the result being they held Sidmouth to three tries apiece in the second half.

Okehampton try scorers: Tom Michie, Daniel Turney (2), Maddie Arden, Nathan Tomkins.

Okehampton U7s 5 tries

Sidmouth U7s 5 tries

OKEHAMPTON and Sidmouth were in the throes of a close, hard-fought game before several hail-storms caused the match to be abandoned.

Sidmouth struck first, with two well taken tries. Okehampton then had to wake up to fight back, as they have done so often this season, in some very cold, went and wintry conditions.

The first breakthrough for the Okes came from Joshua Burgoyne, who scored a good individual try. Then came tries from the pacy Daniel Wonnacott, and a good individual try scored in the corner by George Cox, who showed good movement to touch down.

The ever reliable tagging from Cole Pengelly, James Stevens, David Smith, Liam Daintree, Saul Holliday, Joe Dray, Angus Haygarth and Jake and Harry Laing-Taylor kept Okehampton in the hunt throughout the match.

Strong attacking runs from Charlie Glanville, James Close, Matthew Denning and Joshua Parsons ensured Okehampton went forward when in possession. The performance of the match came from Daniel Tomkins, who scored two fine individual tries, to tie the game for Okehampton.

Then the heavens opened and the match was abandoned.