Tavistock seconds 7

Okehampton seconds 22

MERIT table action returned as Okehampton seconds made the short trip to Tavistock for this local derby encounter.

In misty and slippery conditions Oke had the benefit of slope and wind in the first half and after the early skirmishes began to get the batter of their hosts in terms of possession and territory.

A tendency to over elaborate with resultant errors meant that little advantage was taken of the territorial dominance with a stoic home defence also frustrating the visitors.

Eventually Okehampton began to settle with ball in hand and from some useful interplay pushing play into the home half, colt scrum half Ryan Lee showed some impressive footwork to wrong foot the defence to open the scoring with a try that Matt Johns converted.

From the restart Richard Drake and captain Bruce Griffiths initiated Oke's best passage of play of the game with well timed offloads allowing second rows Perrot and Elliot to maintain the charge. Consistent pressure with colt number eight Liam Sampson running hard created the opportunity for Lee to scamper in for his second try; Johns converted to add the three points gained from a penalty minutes earlier, to bring the half time score to 0-17 to the visitors.

A re-energised home side apply concerted pressure on the visitors and while solid defence kept the line intact, a growing penalty count added to the mounting tension. Eventually the pressure told with Tavistock's hard running winger taking a crash ball following a five metre line out to go in under the posts for a converted try.

With captain Griffiths taking a knock for Oke, colt Matt Baker came into the front row and put in an excellent shift. With Kyle May doing like wise in the second row, all of the colts contingent made a valuable contribution.

With the visitors regaining control, the superb Lee was again the instigator with a clever grubber kick setting up the position from which Buzz Brimacombe finished off the scoring with a try that brought the final score to 7-22 to Okehampton.

Okehampton's second place in the merit table now seems assured.

n This Saturday Okehampton seconds play their final merit table game of the season with Torquay the visitors to Oaklands.