Okehampton U16s 51

Brixham U16s 0

OKEHAMPTON put on a strong performance to overpower their visitors.

The weather was fair but cold as Oke kicked off up the slope and the home side started brightly, opening the scoring after less than five minutes.

Oke turned over Brixham possession, a theme that was to reoccur all match, and moved it wide. Good hands put centre Ben McKenna-Smith over on the overlap to open the scoring. The centre was in fine form with the boot all match and he confidently added the conversion to make it 7-0.

Play was then  fairly even for a period before Oke extended their lead with a well struck McKenna-Smith penalty. An almost identical effort followed swiftly afterwards to make it 13-0 after 25 minutes.

Oke were now well on top up front, with their scrum and rolling mauls both proving effective and difficult to contain.

Oke’s second try came after another period of forward driving play, after sucking in defenders at a a ruck, scrum half Corey Holliday made a half break and when the ball was recycled there was no stopping home number eight Greg  Daniel as he powered over mid way out on the  left. Ben McKenna-Smith added the extras.

One more Oke try arrived before the break, a fine effort from back rower Kieran Coyle. The flanker peeled off another advancing maul 30 metres out, before showing the defence a clean pair of heels to plunder another five pointer. McKenna-Smith again potted the extra two to make it 27-0 at the interval.

Searching for the valuable bonus point, Okes dominated the early third quarter exchanges without breaking through. Eventually the pressure told though as scrum half Holliday fed left winger Ollie Arden direct from a set scrum. The winger showed great speed to take the outside route and cross behind the posts and secure the extra point. Ben Mckenna-Smith slotted the conversion to stretch Oke’s lead to 34-0.

The last 15 minutes saw a Harry Cole hat-trick; his first was a fine solo effort that went unconverted, the second came thanks to a fine long pass from home hooker Adam Wonnacott that allowed him the space to race home, and the third left Brixhams’ defenders powerless. Ben McKenna-Smith added another conversion to take Oke past the 50 point mark before the final whistle went.

This was an encouraging performance that hopefully sets the standards for the remainder of the U16s’ campaign.