West Devon Junior Rugby Round Up

Paignton U16s 5

Okehampton U16s 41

THE Okehampton team headed south to Paignton, confident after a narrow victory in the Fisherman’s League Shield at Newton Abbot.

The home side started brightly, pressurising with some strong forward play. For the first ten minutes The Okes were on the backfoot, defending in their own half. Eventually, however, Okehampton began to put together some good phases and slowly worked their way deep into Paignton territory. A scrum allowed them to execute a sharp set move with George Harding bursting through to score.

Minutes later, a strong run and offload from Noah Cracknell to Ewan Northcott set up a try for George Dickinson, which Ewan converted superbly. Paignton got themselves into a good attacking position from the kick-off, but playing an advantage from a knock on, Okehampton countered, giving George Harding space to race through from half way and claim his second try. Ewan knocked over the extra two.

The home side hit back quickly with their forwards working well to set up their centre, who broke through to score, making it 5 – 19. The second half began with an early score from The Okes, but it was disallowed. This was quickly followed with another attack, this time the forwards staying solid in the scrum to allow Ewan to put a lovely grubber kick through for George Dickinson to run onto and score his second. Ewan converted. This seemed to fire up the home side, and good pressure resulted in a penalty five metres out from Okehampton’s line.

But some amazing defence saved two tries as The Okes’ forwards held the ball up twice to deny Paignton. After weathering the storm, the visitors began to edge ahead with two further tries from Noah and one more from George Harding for his hat trick. The final score was 5 – 41 in a very good game in which both sides competed to the end. Okehampton’s overall team effort was excellent, with outstanding work from Mo Taylor and fellow forwards Brad Bourner, Tom Arthurs and Ethan Baker.

Okehampton U13s 20

Paignton U13s 40

A glowing improvement in the scoreline for the Okes in a ruthless game.

When their line was good, the passes flowed and there were great runs (Marcus, Rene, Murray, Tom, Lewis).

With Isaac’s confident charges into contact, unwavering support from Cameron, Lewis, Murray and a versatile Aedan (changed from scrum-half to forward this week) the Okes drove hard against their opponents.

Paignton scored six tries against a backdrop of good tackles from Alex, Morgan, Oscar and Sam and a neat jackal from Cameron.

The game heated up considerably in the second half, when after repeated warnings from the referee for high tackling, Paignton had a player sent off from their 22 and they were sluggish to drop back ten metres for Okehampton’s penalty. Their reluctance to halt the back-chat at the ref gradually cost them a whopping 30m of ground and five points as Cameron nipped in with his try during the verbal assault. Demonstrating an enviable maturity, the Okehampton squad retaliated with appropriate aggression in their gameplay, yielding a further two tries (Jacob, Ethan). Luke put in a sharp tackle and supported a fierce maul amongst Ethan, Lewis, Sam and Tyler. René was everywhere as usual and Harry made several impressive runs. As Oke gained ground, Paignton panic-kicked into touch. A good effort from Tyler helped keep up the pressure. Alex, who had a very strong game all round, rucked-over well and there were more good tackles from Aedan, Ethan, Luca, Luke, Morgan and Oscar. Marcus chipped the ball towards a try but unluckily grounded it just outside the dead ball line.

In the last five minutes, Ethan scored Oke’s fourth try. Play concluded with a very focused Luca swinging Paignton into touch. Congratulations to Jacob, whose outstanding play and steadfastness throughout earned him man of the match.

Paignton U12s 20

Okehampton U12s 25

THE under 12s made the early trek to Paignton and were pleasantly surprised by the warmth and condition of the pitch, considering the heavy rain overnight.

Paignton certainly caught Oke on the back foot and early pressure caused mistakes and panic by Oke. Evident throughout the game was the well-timed passing throughout the home team which they used to their advantage. Paignton started as the more confident team and were quickly rewarded with their first try, quickly followed by a second try as Oke weren’t on form.

Luckily Will managed a try at this point. Harrison and Lachs put a Paignton player into touch whilst Alex was tackling superbly throughout. Shea took a long kick, which was chased by Saul and Adam, but the ball was poached by Paignton.

Lachs, Will and Dan kept the pressure on with Dan making some sterling runs, only stopped by multiple players holding on to him.

One of Dan’s runs saw him tackled, ball picked up by Will, force by Oke allowed Adam to nip in for a try.

The second half was as feisty as the first, Ed was getting stuck in, a maul gave Paignton their third try early in the second half.

Sadly an injury to Alex forced him to retire from the game, this seemed to spur the Oke lads into action and Will scored his second try. The tables had turned and the home team were starting to panic, although they managed one more try. A long kick from Shea was chased by Saul and he scored. Craddy, forever badgering whoever had the ball, blocked a kick from Paignton.

Oke were close to scoring but the ball was held up. Archie wasn’t afraid to tackle today. A scrum followed by a big Paignton forward making tracks down the touchline took him to halfway.

Both teams were showing frustrations at the score being equal, but pressure from Saul allowed him the final and winning try of the game.

Worthy mention of Chris, Shortie and Toby who played their part in a tough, physical game.

Plymstock U11s 15

Tavistock U11s 60

AFTER torrential rain through the night, the Tavistock team made their way through floods to Plymstock.

By then the weather was clear and sunny and as both teams had large squads of 20 plus, the team played four quarters, whereby the whole nine-a-side team could be changed after each quarter.

The first quarter saw both sides selecting strong teams and it was William White from Tavistock who scored first, followed by another try from Laird Whitford to go ten points ahead.  

Sam Perkins came on as a substitute and immediately scored in the corner for Tavistock again. Plymstock woke up and started to press, eventually scoring at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter had a change of teams and despite some great work from Rufus Mckensie-Smith, Sam Boyle and Amelie White, Plymstock scored two tries tin that quarter. This meant it was level, three tries each at half time. 

Tavistock turned up the determination in the third quarter and effectively put the game out of Plymstock’s reach with nine tries, Joel Blake starting them off, Archie Chalk and Archie Wall each scoring, Sam Perkins getting his second, and two from Sam Palmer and three from Archie Davies.

Plymstock didn’t give up and in the final quarter. They battled to get some pride back, but some great tackling from Finn Jordan and Ethan Baker meant that quarter finished scoreless. Credit should be given to Charlie and Isla for playing well, despite them both being new to the game. It was a great game played in the right spirit and for Tavistock the TREDS award for Teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship went to William White.

Tavistock U10s 4

Crediton U10s 2

A really evenly-matched game in this last minute fixture, Tavistock defended well but failed to make as good use of the space on the pitch.

From the start there was fierce tackling from Dominic, Matthew and William A, with the home side managing to win the ball and put together some lovely passes through to Daniel who went on a great bursting run.

The first try followed some excellent team effort with great passing from Michael, Finlay, Rafferty and Ernie. Crediton were quickly turned over when they won the ball, with some crunching tackles from George and Ernie, leaving Harry to snatch up the ball and make one of his now trademark pitch length  runs to touch down.

Crediton came straight back but some excellent rucking from William TY, Gabriel and Alastair kept them at bay. Super speed from Jack saw him track from one tackle on one side of the pitch straight across to the other to stop Crediton going through to score.

He was rewarded for his heroics with two tries. Some great work in defence and on the attack for Daniel meant he was unlucky not to score more than once. Crediton were a great passing side but it was down to the perseverence of Tavistock’s defence that they were unable to score more than twice. 

Okehampton U9s 5

Paignton U9s 5

It was testament to Oke’s investment in a new drainage system that these fixtures were playable at all given the extreme weather.

Oke started brightly, moving the ball well through an impressive 15 phases before Toby rounded the Paignton defence to score the opening try. A crunching tackle from Charlie caused Paignton to knock on and Henry showed great awareness to pounce on the free ball and show a clean pair of heels to score Oke’s second try. Paignton hit back with three tries before Henry again snaffled turnover ball on his own line and sprinted the full length of the pitch to score. Oke repelled repeated attacks with Marla seemingly on a one-woman mission to tackle the entire Paignton team on her own. Paignton finally broke through to take the lead before Wilf burst through three tackles to score and secure the draw with the last play of the match.

Okehampton U9s 4

Paignton U9s 6

The second match started at a frenetic pace with the teams trading possession and heavy tackling before Paignton broke through to score twice. A smart break from Thomas set up Lewis to scamper over the line to bring one back for Oke to be followed by a second as Dylan surged through several tackles to release Rocco, who outpaced the defence to score. Fantastic flying tackles from Jacob kept Paignton on the back foot until weight of numbers saw them push over for a brace of tries. Smart footwork from Henry saw him score two quick tries to level the scores, only for Paignton to hit back with two late scores to win the match.

Okehampton U9s 2

Paignton U9s 6

The third match was very disjointed as Oke found themselves on the wrong side of several close refereeing calls and they struggled to build any momentum.

A very well drilled Paignton team made excellent use of the width of the pitch to repeatedly snuff out Oke attacks by bundling them into touch. Eye-watering tackles from Marla, Ciaran and Wilf kept the opposition pegged back before Henry again crossed twice to score. Paignton eventually made their possession pay as they pulled ahead to a solid victory.

Okehampton U9s 0

Paignton U9s 5

Game four found Oke spending far too much time camped on their own line trying to repel wave after wave of Paignton attacks.

Powerful, desperate tackling from Jacob, Rocco, Marla and Dylan kept the score down but they couldn’t keep Paignton out forever. A quick start from Zara lead to a fine break from Lewis, only for him to be hauled down agonisingly short of the try line.