Cullompton U16s 5

Tavistock U16s 43

TAVISTOCK dominated this game from the outset. Their forwards seemed to be much more aggressive at the breakdown than their opponents and Billy Rowe, Steve Kirby and Harry Jeans won their side a countless number of turnovers.

Unfortunately a number of unforced handling errors stopped Tavistock really pressing home their advantage in the first teb to 15 minutes.

The returning James Lewis, who has not played for five months because of injury, was looking to make up for lost game time and drove forward at every opportunity. Some slick handling from hooker George Murrain created space for Lewis and he raced in from 30 metres to score under the posts and open Tavistock's account. Ben Milligan added the conversion.

Some strong running from second rows Scott Morris and Cameron McKie soon had Tavistock on the front foot. Winger Billy McNichol showed his pace and sprinted clear down the wing, the forwards recycled the ball and prop Harry Jeans reacted the quickest to pick up and drive over. Jeans was a thorn in the opposition's side all game and he was soon in the action again sprinting 20 metres along the touchline after winning another turnover.

As the half progressed the Tavistock half backs Dan Willis and Chris Watt's backline moved the ball more freely. This created space for full back Ben Milligan to come into the line and winger Will Trembath made a jinking run, which was stopped on the five metre line. Cullompton gave away a penalty and a quick tap from Theo Cousins created space for Ethan Lamerton to dive over.

In the second half Tavistock continued to have the upper hand at the set piece, with George Hillson and Will Gardner giving Cullompton's scrum half and number eight a hard time at the base of the scrum and Theo Cousins dominating the line out.

A Tavistock line out on the Cullompton five metre line was thrown in expertly by George Murrain and collected by Theo Cousins. A well-executed catch and drive saw the ball transferred to the back of the maul and Will Gardner drove over for the bonus point score.

George Hillson converted from near on the touchline. Just to prove this was no fluke Tavistock completed the same play ten minutes later with Gardner grabbing his second. Cullompton battled bravely and were duly rewarded with a score on the left hand side.

Tavistock, however, bounced straight back and some more good handling from the backs enabled winger Sean Donnelly to force his way over from ten metres out. Steve Kirby and Billy Rowe continued to work hard and both made telling breaks through the Cullompton defence. Centres Ethan Lamerton and James Lewis secured Tavistock's final try after they tackled a Cullompton player, jointly stripped him of the ball and Lewis broke clear to score. George Hillson again kicked the difficult conversion.

Brixham U16s 29

Okehampton U16s 19

For the first 10 minutes Okehampton had to withstand constant

pressure from Brixham, but eventually they managed to get their hands on the

ball and began to work through several phases of their own and get

themselves into the Brixham 22.

Unfortunately for them the Brixham winger pounced on a loose ball and ran almost the length of the pitch to score the opening try. Brixham scored again ten minutes later after getting the ball out wide to their other winger, who scored in the corner.

Okehampton's set pieces were working well and after winning a line out five metres out Joe Mawle crashed over after a series of pick and goes. The try was converted to take the scores to 10-7 to the home side at the end of the first half.

Brixham scored within a few minutes of the restart of the second half to give themselves a bit of breathing space.  

Okehampton responded well and within a few minutes scored a try of their own after Dan Thorne darted over from the back of a ruck.

After a good break from the Okehampton fullback from inside his own 22, having been tackled just short of the try line, Okehampton managed to recycle the ball quickly for Jack Dickinson to crash over and put them in the lead 19 -17 for the first time.

With 10 minutes left to play, Brixham scored next and with the conversion missed, Okehampton still felt they could win the game, but it was not to be and with a minute to go Brixham scored another try to seal the win.

Oke can be proud of their performance against one of the top teams in the league.

Okehampton U13s 44

Devonport Services U13s 0

FROM the first whistle Okehampton made their presence felt and five minutes in saw quick ball cross field to Greg Haste to cut back inside, to open the scoring. 

This was swiftly followed minutes later, in an almost identical move, by Greg Haste again touching down on the opposite side. 

Okehampton were on a roll and a great catch and drive from Charlie Glanville led to a break from Michael Stevens, who had his best game yet in the pack.  The ensuing ruck ball went cross field again, this time collected by Olly Northcott to score. The last five minutes of the first half saw outstanding defence by Oke, with Devonport on the attack.  Just short of Okehampton's try line, Cole Pengelly stole valuable ball to allow the clearance kick and a clean sheet at the end of the first half. 

The second half brought more of the same, with backs and forwards linking well and five minutes in, Daniel Tomkins powered through the middle to cross the line.  Barnaby Waddell, putting in his usual hard work, stole Devonport's lineout ball, storming through their defence to run half the length of the pitch to score.  Not taking their foot off the pedal, the young Okes continued to pressurise the Devonport defence, with Will Cunningham breaking through with his great running lines, and speed, to score.  

A strong restart break from Michael Stevens, supported by Daniel Tomkins, saw Will Cunningham again cut back inside to touch down for his second try, minutes later.  Oke rounded off the game with a well deserved try by Saul Holliday, who had been a thorn in Devonport's side throughout the match.  Conversions, James Close (2).

Okehampton U13s 60

Ynysddu U13s 0

WITH half an hour break, Okehampton then entertained a Welsh touring team, Ynysddu, who were staying in Bideford. 

Okehampton carried on where they left off, running in ten, well executed tries, as well as providing players to Ynysddu, who had 13 available players, and a few injuries during the match.  Tries came from Will Cunningham (4), Barnaby Waddell (1), Olly Northcott (2) and Daniel Tomkins (3).  Conversions, James Close (3) and Daniel Wonnacott (2).  The match rounded off a successful day for the squad, who all played their hearts out.

Okehampton U10s 55

Ynysddu U10s 30

OKEHAMPTON U10's were one of the teams to play host to touring Ynysddu from South Wales. Captained by Lachs the game started fiercely, both teams of equal standing.

Ynysddu were on the attack from the outset, a quick tackle from Josh saw the ball dropped; Josh sprang to his feet and scooped the loose ball and moved it on as Saul ripped the ball and took of before he was tackled by the Welsh team.

Toby worked in the middle of the pitch for Oke, keeping the flow of play going. Adam scored two tries for Oke and Saul one in reply to the two by the visitors at this point.

Dan charged through the pack for Oke, gradually slowing down as more powered into him. Adam ran well, Alex worked hard throughout and threw himself into the game. Ben was making some of his trademark hard tackles while Ed was never afraid of putting himself in the centre of the game.

The Oke lads now seemed to wake up to their tough opponents and pull themselves together.

Scrum half Shea passed from the scrum to Will, who pounded down the pitch towards the tryline before being tackled; a restart saw enough space for Lachs to charge through to score.

Will and Callum worked well in the rucks, Shortie kept pressure on and made some great tackles. A great demonstration of teamwork was seen between Lachs and Callum to result in a try for the latter.

Saul passed to Lachs to score while a run from one end of the pitch to the other by Adam saw him score. Shea was always ready to pounce on any in the tackle.

The final phase of play saw the tackle of the day by Jacob, timed perfectly. Dan focussed on the tryline and weaved his way up the pitch to be downed just before the line. Saul scored four tries while Chris, Archie, Finn and Flynn all played their parts in quite a demanding match.

'Wales' U8s 7 tries

'England' U8s 5 tries

THE Grand Slam in the Rugby Six Nations might have been decided at Twickenham and Murrayfield at the weekend, but Tavistock's young rugby players had an unexpected international of their own. Travelling to Okehampton, they found a junior side from Wales on tour and split their team up so half got to play against the side from over the bridge.

It was a closely contested game with great support play from all the team. George P, Edward and William A all scored one each. Dominic scored two.

Okehampton U8s 13 tries

Tavistock U8s 12 tries

A REALLY tight game resulted in some excellent support play. This was a real team effort by both sides.

Tavistock took some really great tags in this game and there was some super running rugby from Matthew, Ernie, William TY, who scored one try each, William S scored two, Michael three and Lewis scored four.