Okehampton U15s 17

Stonehouse Sharks

U15s 15

HAVING not played Stonehouse before the Okehampton side did not know what to expect but despite playing against a larger pack the home side took the game to the visitors from the start.

The Okehampton forwards immediately applied pressure with some good drives to take themselves into the visitors' 22 area. The home side were awarded a penalty early on and chose to go for the posts, with James Bowden slotting home for three points.

This woke the visitors up, who started to grow in confidence. The visitors' game plan was to get in the opponents 22 and start using their big runners to barge through. This worked well for the visitors from Plymouth who, against the run of play, scored three unanswered tries before the break.

In the second half the home side rallied and continued giving Stonehouse a lesson in counter rucking. After Liam Pyle intercepted a pass to score under the posts this rallied the home side who were now looking for their their second try.

Tensions started to run high as both sides looked to seal off the game and it was Okehampton who held their nerve.

Jake Lawson scrambled through from a ruck set up from a line out and James Bowden added the extras to put Okehampton in front.

This was a thrilling game of rugby with a bit of everything thrown in.

Credit should go to both Okehampton forwards for their superb effort against a bigger pack and some fine tackling from the backs.

In all this was another solid performance from an Oke squad growing in confidence.

Tavistock U15s girls 29

Devonport U15s girls 0

WHILE the pitch was soft from the persistent rain of the previous week, the grass itself was dry and soon the flow came from the three-quarters. The ball came out of the ruck was and spun out to the left by Tavistock's Lily Mills and down the line to Eleanor Mills, who outpaced the defence to score wide out.

A brace of tries came just before half time from Ellana Dawe and Tilly Cole. Both tries were converted by Lily Mills.

At the start of the second half there was a stalemate with neither side gaining territory to allow a break out to score.

The Tavistock tackling was superb, not allowing the Devonport attack to penetrate their lines once during the whole match.

Inspired by the strength of Chloe Dawe, the Tavistock forwards again gained the upper hand and drove down the field into the Devonport 22. From short range Lily Mills darted from behind the scrum to score in the corner.

This was a great result for the Tavistock girls against one of the stronger sides in Devon.

Tavistock U13s 10

Devonport Services U13s 22

TAVISTOCK U13s played a strong Devonport side and nearly completed a superb second half fightback.

Devonport strolled to a three try lead, leaving Tavistock 17-0 down at halftime.

However, Tavistock came out rejuvenated in the second half and they came out fighting. Early pressure resulted in a superb try from Jude White, who carefully selected his running line to go past three Devonport players to score in the corner.

Some excellent reading of the game by Hunter Strand saw him intercept the ball and then run three quarters of the length of the field to score a great try and put Tavistock right back in the game.

Now with only one try in it and the clock ticking down, Tavistock were trying everything to get the ball down the other end of the pitch but Devonport managed a charge down on the Tavistock line and then score their only points of the second half just before the final whistle went. 

The Tavistock team showed great spirit especially when Ollie Noy Scott, Zac Clifford Flower and Jake Houlberg were all called to play out of their usual positions. The forward play was as strong as ever with Jason Blake ripping the ball at every opportunity and John Lord and Tom McKensie both putting their bodies on the line for the team.

Zac Gorton's tackling skills were invaluable and in conjunction with the return of Lachlan Fulton the team had the backbone to compete against one of the best sides in Devon.

This week Tavistock U13s are away to Launceston U13s.

Stonehouse Sharks U10s 55

Okehampton U10s 70

 THIS was a great performance from the Okehampton team in a challenging contest.

Oke, captained by Isaac, faced the early encounters with some strong tackling from Ethan, Joe and Elliot. Stonehouse used their big players to try and drive through but the visitors defended strongly and continued to show improvement with driving runs from Holly, Matt and Alfie.

As the game progressed there were plenty of tough tackles from Marcus, Cameron and Alex in defence for Oke and strong running and support play from Aedan, Sam, Isaac and Alfie with Elliot taking advantage of mistakes to rack up the tries.

In the latter stages there were some excellent team moves with strong running, offloads by Okehampton and support play which resulted in great team scores.

It was a hard match with early finishes for Ethan and Joe due to injury but the team showed great spirit to come out as winners.

Tries were scored by Elliot (7), Marcus (5) and Cameron and Alex. Coaches' player of the week was Alfie and tackler of the match was Cameron.

Exeter U9s 14 tries

Tavistock U9s 8 tries

PREVIOUS meetings between these teams have always been close affairs and this was no exception.

Tavistock were slow to start but soon found their footing after Matthew D got the visitors off the mark with their first try, swiftly followed by ones from Henry and Edward.

However, Exeter were equally strong and kept the score level pegging. Christopher for Tavistock capitalised on two Exeter handling errors to go on long runs to score twice. Matthew B added 2 more tries which left Tavistock just ahead as they entered the second half.

Unfortunately things did not go Tavistock's way in the second half. A determined attacking Exeter side and lack of effective tackling from Tavistock meant Exeter soon pulled ahead. Luke T scored a try with a good pass from James and Matthew B managed to find a space for a second but it was not enough.

Exeter U9s 10 tries

Tavistock U9s 13 tries

TAVISTOCK were on good form. The first half was dominated by exceptional tackling from all the team but especially from Matthew D, Christopher and Matthew B.

Exeter could not got a foothold, but the tries came thick and fast for the visitors. Christopher scored two and Matt B and Luke D one apiece and a particularly impressive hat trick from Edward. The first half ended with just the one try from Exeter

In the second half Exeter cameback but Tavistock continued to dictate the pace of play.  Ben, James and Edward showed some first-rate tackling and the whole team showed some much better passing and attacking play.

There were three more tries for Edward, two for James and one for Sebastian.

Stonehouse Sharks

U9s 45

Okehampton U9s 90

IN fast paced competitive match every player gave 100% commitment in what was possibly the toughest game of the season so far for Okehampton, who were captained by Archie.

The Sharks, a strong and fast team, scored the first try, which quickly woke the Oke boys up into action. Lachs, for Oke, impressed everyone with a quick run and came close to equalling the score but was shoved out of play. However, the visitors soon came back with tries from Adam from Callum.

The second quarter saw Saul score the first of his two tries as soon as the whistle was blown; Saul soon after tackled three players in succession before Dan for Oke sidestepped a Shark and took off down the pitch for the first of his two tries. Saul was close to the try line when he was tackled but Jacob quickly picked it up and passed the ball to Adam to score to make it 25-40 at half time.

The second half saw Callum scored three tries, he kept working his way up the pitch with the Sharks snapping at his heels. Fancy footwork saw a try for Toby and another try from Adam before the Sharks replied with a score themselves.

The final quarter saw everyone beginning to tire but Ben for Oke dodged and weaved through the Sharks with a few hanging off him to score his first try. Flynn picked and passed to Saul, on to Toby, to Jacob who, despite all his efforts could not quite reach the try line so passed back to Saul for his fourth try.

The Sharks also scored three tries in this period.

Alex and Josh helped to keep the tempo of the game flowing for Oke whose players of the match were Callum and Adam.