Western Counties West

Okehampton 22

St Austell 24

THIS was a well fought battle between two well matched sides with the visitors, on the overall balance of play, just deserving to edge it. They certainly had the better of the first 40, whilst it was the Okes who had the upper hand in the second.

The Okes' defensive play has been a significant factor in their league success over the last two seasons. However this term it has lacked in intensity, and that was again evident from the off on Saturday. The Saints started the brighter, and down the slope they threatened an early score. St Austell gained territory in the Okes' 22 and from a scrum the ball was allowed to slip by Oke out the blind side of the set piece, and visiting fly half Andy Ashwin had an easy run in for the opening score. Playmaker and ex Redruth scrum half Matt Shepherd, missed the conversion.

The home side replied almost immediately, in what was whirlwind start to the match. A five metre scrum was adjudged to have been illegally disrupted and fly half the Okes' Carl Poynton slotted the dead ahead kick to take the score to 7-5 after less than ten minutes.

Almost inevitably the visitors were straight back on the attack. The Okes tackling almost resembled touch rugby, as they allowed James Earp to make easy yardage from a simple switch move; he was eventually grounded, but had blind side Jeffs in close support, the flanker dotted down under the uprights to restore the visitors lead, Shepherd added the extras.

The end to end action continued unabated. Scrum half Joey Bruce used turnover ball to good effect with a neat box kick. The Saints winger fumbled as he attempted to tidy the bouncing ball, home winger Craig Dennis showed good awareness to pilfer the loose ball and roll over for the leveller. Poynton missed the conversion foe 12-12.

Shepherd missed a penalty chance soon after. The Okes were still falling off tackles though, and the Saints were using their offload game to create chances. Another clean break through the home midfield brought the next score. This time it was prolific flanker Paul Winterbottom who was on hand to take the scoring pass in support of the initial break. He crossed midway out on the left for the Saint's third try of the half. Shepherd again failed with the conversion attempt.

Visiting fly half Ashwin saw yellow for an infringement, but Oke failed to capitalise as Poynton missed a penalty, and the interval arrived with the score still 12-17.

The Okes started the second period with a bit more urgency in their play. Winger Craig Dennis slotted a nice effort to bring the lead down to two points. Oke were definitely looking more solid defensively in the second half, and the Saints were now spending considerable time defending themselves. Okes' captain Gareth Espin made a lovely cross field arching break and threw a sweet long pass to winger Craig Dennis who had a virtual clear run in to the line. He added a fine conversion to put the Okes in the lead. With 20 minutes remaining Oke were defending better but St Austell were keen to maintain their 100% league record.

Okehampton were still attacking in the last quarter, but threw their lead away with an unforced error when they failed to clear their lines from a five metre scum and the Saints scrum half Shepherd sniped over from close range to snatch victory for the visitors. So at the final whistle, The Okes were crestfallen for letting their lead slip. However last year's colts are still fitting into the side, and with hard work the results will hopefully improve.

n This week Okehampton are away to Tavistock, kick-off 3pm.