Western Counties West Devonport Services 35

Okehampton 17

OKEHAMPTON arrived at sunny Devonport on Saturday full of hope and expectation. However, well before the end that had been replaced by a grim sense of doom and gloom as they produced an inept display that left coach Brett Luxton fuming.

The tone was set almost straight from the kick-off as young Services fly-half Charlie Attis ran rings around some flimsy defence to put winger Ben McGowan over in the corner. Attis increased the lead five minutes later with a sweetly-struck drop goal from in front of the sticks 35 metres out.

The Okes then woke up and went over for a five-pointer following their first real attack, Paul Lawrence being driven over from a five metre catch and drive.

The respite was shortlived as Services then scored a similar try of their own for Joe Page following a yellow card to Okehampton's Sam Turner. Oke's outstanding player, Joey Bruce was next on the scoresheet as he scampered over from 20 metres after Simon Cox had picked up at the base of an attacking scrum. Services then scored a carbon copy of their last try with Page again the scorer to bring the half-time score to 20-12 in the hosts' favour.

A good start was crucial to the visitors' aspirations but they managed to achieve the opposite. The restart was fumbled straight into the hands of the Services winger. Some straightforward handling then saw the ball shipped to Matt Morrison who dotted down in the corner. Attis added a penalty for good measure following some more Okehampton indiscipline and the lead was stretched to 28-12.

The Okes then went through a good passage of play where they retained possession and recycled well. Alex Dennis was eventually the beneficiary as he scored a good try wich was converted.

The visitors will feel slightly aggrieved that a succession of attacking five metre scrums resulted in neither a try nor a penalty try.

As Okehampton looked to move the ball from all over the park in search of bonus points, Services capitalised on an error deep inside the Okes' 22 to score the final converted try. This was a hugely disappointing performance by the Okes.