Western Counties West

Tavistock 17

Okehampton 26

THE visitors came away with a bonus point victory in this local derby at Sandy Park.

This typically tight and fractious game ultimately went the way of the visiting side, as the Oke pack power proved too much for their hosts.

The opening 40 minutes proved to be a real ding dong affair, as the lead changed hands several times. The Okes began brightly and opened the scoring only three minutes in; fly half Carl Poynton potting the penalty chance after pressure forced an infringement up front after Tavistock strayed offside.

The first few exchanges saw both teams swapping possession before Tavistock opened their account with their first meaningful attack.

The ball was stolen on halfway from an Okehampton player and Rich Goldsby-West's pass put Danny Luffman away; his well timed pass to Lewis Edwards enabled him to outpace the defence and go in for the try.

Both sides were struggling to retain possession with the ball being lost in the tackle or at the lineout.

The Oke forwards drove effectively through the home defence, and scrum half Joey Bruce slipped a nice reverse pass to second row Sam Turner who crossed to regain the lead. Poynton converted and the Okes now led 10-5, however the visiting fly half was soon to leave the field after a knock sustained in a tackle.

A take by Mark Friend at a lineout enabled Goldsby-West to get Ben Hadfield away and the resulting kick through by Dougie Lloyd forced the visitors to put the ball in to touch but the lineout came to nothing.

A run by Josh Sutton found him in to Okehampton territory and Goldsby-West's kick forced the visitors to put the ball in to touch. From the resulting lineout Tavistock scored their second try. After a good take they drove forward and Ollie Thomas peeled off the maul to jog over for the try. Goldsby-West then converted to enable Tavistock to regain the lead at 12-10.

Young Oke fly half Jordan Petherbridge was now on for Poynton to make his debut. He had a solid game and although he missed his first penalty chance, he soon showed good character to slot his second effort and re-establish Oke's lead at 13-12 after 30 minutes.

A penalty for Tavistock put them five metres from the line but they could not drive over and the resulting pass out went loose and the chance was gone.

Oke scored their second try via a pushover right on the interval. Flanker Simon Cox showed good control to ground the score as the Oke pack advanced at pace. The conversion was missed, and at 18-12 at the break the match was still in the balance.

Tavistock were finding it difficult to keep possession as the ball was either lost in the tackle or turned over in the ruck.

After 50 minutes the Oke eight marched Tavistock back from 20 metres to allow Cox to bag his brace. Poynton had by this time returned to the fray, but was unable to add the extras.

The game was now slipping away from Tavistock as they struggled to create any scoring chances.

Poynton extended Okehampton's lead to fourteen points with another penalty.

A penalty on halfway enabled Tavistock to set up a lineout 10 metres out and from the resulting catch and drive they drove over the line with Lloyd James getting the vital touchdown.

Play now went back and forth as both sides tried to get another score but good defensive tackling by both sides kept each other at bay enabling the visitors to leave with the points. This was a normal local derby, full of effort and desire, but not too much free flowing rugby. Okes pack ultimately proved the decisive weapon.