Devon merit one

Barnstaple seconds 19

Okehampton seconds 24

OKEHAMPTON travelled to Barnstaple for their third away game in a row having lost by one point to Ivybridge and by two to Brixham but were in good spirits.

Paddy Moyse returned to the helm to lead a side in what was by both clubs recognition ‘a sparkling game’.

Barum opened the scoring having all the early possession with an unstoppable rolling maul. With the Okes unable to get any ball Barnstaple increased their lead with another hard fought close in try. Unable to add the extras the score sat at 12-0 with half time approaching.

The much smaller and younger Oke pack began to get some possession and after a strong run up the wing Ben McKenna-Smith flipped a superb inside pass to put Ryan Lee under the posts with Luke Simmons adding the extras to make it 12-7 to the hosts at half time.

Right away in the second half Oke started on the front foot and after some close encounters Ollie Francis crashed over to give them the lead at 12-14.

Barum were rattled and after repeated infringements Simmons landed a penalty from in front. This seemed to spur the home side into another gear and after 15 minutes of sustained pressure and superb Okehampton defence, the line was finally breached and Barum went 19-17 up. So another narrow defeat was on the cards.

However, with the final play Barnstaple tried to finish the Okes off with a speculative kick behind the ranks which was gathered over his own line by Ben McKenna-Smith who looked up and took off. Evading several tackle attempts, he broke into midfield, spotted Ryan Lee out wide and chipped through. Ryan was up to the task to outstrip the defence to score the winner converted by Simmons. 

This game produced quality from both sides and credit goes to the 19 players from Okehampton with their superb defence.