Okehampton U13s 10

Northampton Scouts U13s 65

THIS was an informal, friendly game to round off the season and introduce new skills for next year - 15-a-side, full scrums and lineouts.

The guests were swift to score their first try and Okehampton soon realised they’d have to work hard to keep possession as the Scouts were fit and fast.

There was the usual pressure at the outset, from Sam and Will T, good drives from Nathan and Lachs and skilful rucking by Cameron, Alex H and Sam. Jacob and Marcus made several, heavily hampered short runs, holding the Scouts off the line on a number of occasions.

Alex H did some great prep work at the line for Will to score the Okes’ first try and René managed to ground the second in the second half. Luca performed an awesome dodge which earned him a run from the Okes’ 10 to their 22 towards the end of the match and Oli’s courageous tackle helped maintain the pressure.

Luca’s determination came through again as he put in a fabulous tackle with Alex, allowing Nathan to make a break and gain some ground. The U13s thank the under-12s who helped make up the team for this match: Lachs, Will, Alex, Ed, Adam and Callum. The morning’s fun ended in soggy but cheery spirit, with a barbarians match, for which some of the good-humoured Scouts donned pink tutus and rain caps.

Okehampton U12s 40

Southampton U12s 10

OKEHAMPTON’S finest weather greeted a touring team from Southampton causing many slips and dropped balls.

The visitors bought 12 players, therefore Callum, Jacob and Harrison all played for the visiting team and home team at different times during the game.

Adam passed to Saul, a maul followed by Ed’s try. Good passing from Callum to Craddy and run from Josh who was just taken into touch short of the tryline. Looping and passing from the home team from Shortie to Will, back to Shortie, to Saul, on to Adam and then to Shortie for a finish for Lachs to score. A try then came for Southampton shortly afterwards.

Adam passed to Will and back to Adam for his try. Callum and Toby were passing well between each other. However, Southampton held a solid defence throughout the first half, leading to a second try for Southampton.

A strong example of teamwork contributed to Ed’s second try of the game. Craddy kicked well from the ruck to be caught by Alex, offload to Saul for a try.

Okehampton pressure caused the visitors into touch on several occasions. Josh put in a superb tackle on one of the opposition. Dan sprinted from one end of the pitch to the other for his try. Saul and Craddy scored in this half.

All the boys played as a team, Alex great as fullback, Chris as prop and Tom playing his part.