Western Counties West

Okehampton 30

Kingsbridge 20

THE first match of any season is always a hard one to draw conclusions from and this was a welcome win for Okehampton who were missing several players.

They were also without their star back as Kevin Dennis has joined Newton Abbot, so hopefully this win will provide a firm foundation as the Okes look to build another solid season in Western Counties West.

The visitors, with newly appointed coach Nick Burnett at the helm, took the game to the hosts in the early exchanges and were rewarded with the opening two scores.

Firstly, fly half Ben Newman, who was to prove a constant threat all afternoon, opened up with a simple penalty goal. He then sliced through on the short side after a quickly tapped penalty had put the Okes on the back foot to make it 8-0.

Okehampton were struggling to garner any decent possession and were spending long periods on the defensive.

When they did finally enter King's territory they were awarded a penalty on 15 minutes which fly half Carl Poynton converted.

The home side were level soon afterwards, when they struck from inside their own half. Newly appointed captain, and full back Gareth Espin hit the blind side from a home scrummage; he made good yards before releasing Andrew Brimmacombe on the right wing, who cruised home up the left touchline for the try. Poynton added the extras and Oke had the lead, albeit slightly against the run of play.

The visitors responded immediately when fly half Newman who crossed the whitewash as he crossed midway out on the left after some good recycling. He failed to convert but Kingsbridge had regained the lead at 13-10.

There was still time for Poynton to tie things up before the break with another straight ahead kick though, and at 13-13 playing up the slope and with little ball, the Okes were the happier of the sides at the break.

Okehampton stared the second period on the offensive, stringing together several phases of play. As they spread the ball left a loose pass seemed to have killed their momentum, however centre Luke Honeychurch made a great pick up and kept the move alive. An inside pass from scrum half Joey Bruce found supporting second row Sam Turner who crossed under the posts. Poynton converted and made the score 20-13.

Kingsbridge regrouped and retaliated; only a superb try saving hit from flanker Simon Cox prevented another score. The Okes marched downfield shortly after and Poynton struck a sweet penalty from the ten yard line to extend the home side's lead to ten points.

The South Hams visitors took full advantage of the new rolling substitutions and broke through some flimsy defence for a score between the uprights for replacement flanker Charlie Kust. Newman added the two points.

In the final quarter the Okes took a quick lineout in their own 22, and centre Honeychurch punted downfield. The Kings' full back dallied, and his attempted clearance kick was charged down. The ball bounced kindly into the arms of gleeful skipper Espin who cantered home unopposed to put the match to bed. Poynton converted and a home win was secured.

n On Saturday Okehampton are at home in the league against Torquay. Support welcome. Kick-off 3pm.