South West one

Thornbury 5

Okehampton firsts 30

ON a mild, dry afternoon in South Gloucestershire the Okes put on one their performances of the season to down the fancied Thornbury side who, until yesterday, occupied third place in the league.

With conditions reasonably dry underfoot, the visitors began with a bang!  Gareth Espin only took two minutes to get on the score sheet with a sensational try in the bottom right corner.  Thornbury did not lay a hand on him.

Espin then repeated the performance giving the Okes just the start they would have dreamed of. Neither of the tries was converted but after five minutes played Oke were 10-0 up.

After this hectic start play settled down and the Thornbury side began to nail their tackles to thwart the rampaging Oke side.

Player-coach Gaz Evans came on for Oke’s young Jake Shin at hooker after 20 minutes to lend more weight to the pack. Defence on both sides was uncompromising with some big tackles ensuring play remained in midfield.  Then with just a few minutes of the half remaining, the big Thornbury eight mauled their way over the whitewash for a try that brought the half-time score to 10-5, despite the Okes having been dominant for most of the half. 

The second period began much as the first had ended with big hits stopping some good attacking moves in their tracks. Luke Honeychurch replaced his brother on the left wing.  The Oke backline was looking as fluid as it has for some weeks with Rhys Palmer, Kevin Dennis and Richie Friend all making penetrating runs and linking well.  Only some last-minute handling errors ensured that the Thornbury line remained intact. Meanwhile, the Oke engine room were more than holding their own against a bigger and more experienced eight with Charlie White putting in a big shift in the second row. After 60 minutes Ian Langbridge replaced George Trerise at prop with Jake Shin coming on at wing forward, as Neil Perrott, who had another fine game at blind-side moved into the row.

On 53 minutes, Gary Sizmur landed a penalty to give the Okes a little breathing space. At this stage the Okes’ superior fitness was beginning to have an effect. The sterling efforts of the Oke back line was rewarded by a scintillating try from Kevin Dennis. With the conversion missed, the entire Oke team started to turn the screw dominating possession and territory.

On 78 minutes a fluid backline movement was taken by young Jake Shin, who cut back against the Thornbury defensive line to score a great try virtually under the posts, Richie Friend converting.

Oke launched a final attack down the left. This broke down short of the line, but with the help of Ian Langbridge re-cycling the ball, winger Luke Honeychurch added the cherry on the cake with a really well-taken team try.

With the final score of 30-5 the entire Oke team proved that fitness, discipline and teamwork are the ingredients that will enable this team to grow and flourish in South West One.