South West Counties intermediate Cup

Okehampton 19

Coney Hill 23

OKEHAMPTON welcomed leaders, and unbeaten, Western Counties North side Coney Hill for a cup encounter that most had down as a runaway away win.

The men in maroon and amber had other ideas though, and produced a superb defensive effort, mixed with patches of outstanding back play, to push their surprised visitors right to the wire.

On a sticky surface the visitors elected to play with the slope and took a lead after eight minutes with a penalty goal. Directly from the kick-off the Okes struck back. A lineout in the visitors' 22 came to scrum half Joey Bruce, back to his lively best. The half back threw a dummy and sniped through the visitors' defence, drew the full back and put stand-off Gareth Espin in under the uprights. Full back Gary Sizmur converted and the visitors were slightly stunned by the Oke's start.

The visitors, used to winning by 40 points most weeks, were visibly rattled and their number six soon saw yellow as his frustrations got the better of him. Coney Hill had a huge, well drilled pack and were already demonstrating that their single method of attack was through their powerful surges up the fringes of ruck and maul. The home side defended stoically and looked dangerous on the counter. From one such counter attack the Okes stretched their lead after 25 minutes. From deep in their own half, good hands saw left winger Rob Fishleigh put away up the clubhouse touchline. He chipped the last defender and won the foot race to regather and score a fine try. Sizmur again converted and at 14-3 Okes were in the ascendancy.

Hill reduced that arrears shortly after with another penalty, and began to pile the pressure on the hosts up front. Okehampton defended heroically, as they did all afternoon, crunching hits going in against the constant barrage of forward forays from the visiting pack. Eventually the pressure told and after umpteen phases on the Oke line, Coney Hill eventually were awarded a score under a pile of bodies on the whitewash. The conversion was missed, but the pattern for the remainder of the match was set - nine man rugby from the visitors and a home side trying to eke out enough possession to punish the visitors' lack of pace out wide.

It was apt that the Okes soon scored one of the tries of the season through the backline. Gareth Evans gathered a high kick and shifted the ball infield to Gareth Espin; the fly half cut a swathe through the visitors' dog leg defence and scampered up the right flank; a deft inside pass found the finisher Rob Fishleigh who crossed in clubhouse corner for a try that had the crowd on their feet in admiration.

Unfortunately the Okes could not hold onto their eight point lead until the break when the visiting scrum took a strike against the head in the Oke red zone to allow their number eight to crash over. So it was 18-16 at the break, a score not many envisaged beforehand, but one the excellent home performance fully merited.

The Okes hoped that they would be able to use the slope in the second half to keep their visitors pegged back. However, the visitors' pack kept the ball for long periods, forcing the home side to defend like heroes just to get out of their own 22. The constant forward barrage tested Oke's D to the limit. Flanker Dean Abrams then saw yellow as Oke struggled to keep their line intact.

Coney Hill finally retook the lead as the match entered the last quarter. The Okes were unable to stem the fringe attacks as the visiting number eight plundered his second score from less than a yard. Okehampton were living off scraps by this point, all replacements were now on, and they had one last foray into the Coney Hill 22. A scrum was awarded to the Okes five yards out, but the referee spotted an infringement against the home eight and the chance was gone.

The visitors were elated to snatch victory in a tight encounter, but the Okes came off the pitch with heads held high after a superb all round effort.

The defence was immense throughout, and the backs showed a potency that bodes well for the season's remaining fixtures.