Fisherman's Cup Okehampton U16s 29 Crediton U16s 19 THIS was the first outing for the home side in a league structure game. On a hot day, not normally considered as rugby weather, it was Crediton who started the stronger. The visitors tactic of feed the ball to their big players running at pace caught Okehampton out. The home side backs had no ball for the first ten minutes and just watched from the back foot. Crediton's plan eventually paid off and opened up the scoring. Oke rallied and started to play when the ball was shipped out to make good yardage. Not to be outdone the Okehampton forwards began to grow in confidence and put pressure on the visitors and were soon awarded a try of their own. This is how the game continued from end to end until the final quarter where Okehampton edged away. This was a solid team performance but bigger battles lie ahead and the Okehampton will need to find a more polished performance. Try scorers for Oke were Johnny King 2, William King and Daniel Thorne. The team would like to thank Peter Harris for stepping up and helping with the coaching this season. Plymstock Albion Oaks/Saltash U16s 0 Tavistock RFC U16s 60 TAVISTOCK U16s completed their first venture into league Rugby with a comprehensive win over a combined side made up of players from Plymstock Albion Oaks RFC and Saltash RFC. Tavistock opened their account inside the first five minutes with Ethan Lamerton putting right winger Sean Donnelly clear to race clear and score in the right hand corner. This was shortly followed by a powerful drive from prop Ben Luke who scored in the other corner. With the home side trying out new combinations of the two teams it took them 20 minutes or so to start getting used to each other, but once they settled Plymstock/ Saltash started to compete effectively at the breakdown. They scrapped constantly and spoiled Tavistock's possession wherever they could. Nevertheless, Tavistock were soon back on top with the quick footed full back Bernie Sadler showing his pace and running clear down the left flank to add Tavistock's third try. Chris Watts, giving a commanding display at fly half and varying his options to run, kick or pass, was unlucky not to score after grubbing a kick through to fox the defence but he knocked on. However, he did score shortly after with a neat dummy and sidestep that enabled him to hot foot through the defensive backline. The powerful Billy Rowe finished off the half with a drive over from the base of the scrum — just reward for Billy who with other backs Steve Kirby and Will Gardner worked tirelessly in the tight ripping ball off opponents and clearing out rucks. In the second half Tavistock's big ball carrying forwards started to come into their own. Second row James Lewis chose some superb running lines and scored his first try after bursting through and running clear from the half way line; Ben Milligan added the conversion. James repeated this feat again shortly after with Chris Watts converting. Richard Cann carried strongly from tap penalties and right winger Will Trembath showed his physicality tackling strongly around the fringes. Bernie Sadler scored his second after some nice handling between forwards and backs. Before second row Cameron McKie bullied his way over from the 22 metre line, Dan Willis worked his socks off at scrum half, bossing his forwards and providing secure ball for his backline. Ben Milligan distributed the ball effortlessly at inside centre and he put James Lewis clear for his hat trick score. In the closing minutes Sean Donnelly sprinted down the touchline to add his second before the skillset of the enigmatic George Murrain came to the fore. He put in the deftest of kicks for Ethan Lamerton to latch on to and round his opposing number 13 before touching down. Ben Milligan completed the game's proceedings with a jinking run around some tired defenders. Okehampton U15s 12 Topsham U15s 41 THE first run out of the season for Okehampton U15s saw a weakened home side come unstuck against their well drilled visitors. With several injuries and many players unavailable Oke were always up against it. The home side had to borrow a couple of players from the opposition to make up a 15 and soon found themselves 12-0 down despite having the benefit of the slope in the first half. Another try soon followed by Topsham before Oke awoke and produced their best spell of the match. First winger Ben Mckenna- Smith crossed wide right after some good handling in the build-up. He then made the initial inside break that led to a try on the hoof from the guesting Topsham second rower. Mckenna -Smith added a fine conversion to make it 17-12. Unfortunately for the home side, just before the break Oke failed to kick when required and turnover ball in their 22 led to another Topsham try and an interval scoreline of 24-12 to the visitors. The second period saw Oke gather more injuries and spending long periods camped in their own half. Three more Topsham tries emphasised their overall superiority as Oke had plenty of tackling practice. This was a disappointing start for Okehampton but hopefully results and performances will soon be on an upward curve. Okehampton U14s 35 Topsham U14s 10 THIS was another win for Okehampton as Topsham travelled down to the college to meet up for their first match of the season. The opponents were a small side physically and lulled Oke into a false pretence from the start. Oke U14s were forced into making simple errors by Topsham's strong defence, without which the score line could have been a lot different. During the first half Oke just did not seem to show their usual team spirit with players appearing intent to hand off rather than off loading to keep the game flowing. Tom Stevens, on usual form, ran in four tries for Oke — this lead to Jim Finley converting all tries scored, five from five. After Topsham attacked and sliced through Oke's defence to look certain to score, Tom Whitmarsh covered half the length of the pitch for a superb try saving tackle. Liam Benstead standing in as scrum half, as Kai Middleton recovers, is growing with confidence during every game. Not to be deterred Topsham continued with their straight and pressure to break through and score two tries. The second half saw the Oke team pull together with some outstanding tackling from Daichi Budiman, Daniel Turney and George Harding. Okehampton U13s 34 Topsham U13s 14 OKEHAMPTON opened the scoring from a tap and go spun out to Greg Haste on the wing, who showed a clean pair of heels to the Topsham defence.  Topsham replied with a converted try and the first half continued fairly evenly.  Despite some loose rucking from Okehampton, allowing a few opportunities to go begging, Daniel Tomkins handed off several players and powered over the try line.  Approaching the half time whistle, Okehampton were caught napping, seeing Topsham again cross their line with a converted try, leaving them 14-10 down at the break.  The second half saw the lads really show their strength and determination, with much improved rucking, scrummaging and crunching tackles.  George Cox made a cracking run from halfway for Oke, stepping and weaving his way to the try line.  Ever strong Joshua McCulloch powered over for two tries of his own, the second of which saw great hands and support play from George Cox, Greg Haste and Joshua Burgoyne, to create the opening. Okehampton kept the pressure on throughout, rounding off with a try in the corner from Joshua Burgoyne.  In their debut games, Tom Robins and Sam Dunn put in solid performances both in defence and attack. Conversions came from James Close (1) and Joshua Burgoyne (1). This was an entertaining game from start to finish, with the young Oke side showing great resilience and discipline to dominate the second half, against a well drilled Topsham team.