Okehampton U16s 3

Exmouth U16s 7

OKEHAMPTON produced a fine display with the team working and fighting for each other and showing a pride and passion to put on the maroon and amber shirt — typified by captain Ryan Gross. Sam Davis, only playing his second game, had a game that belied his inexperience.

Eight minutes in Okehampton took the lead after being awarded a penalty for boring in at the scrum and Exmouth were marched back ten yards for speaking out of turn to put it within range. Lewis Taylor confidently slotted the kick to give the hosts the perfect start.

The lead was short-lived as the Cockles countered from the restart and after the first couple of attacks were repelled the Okes' scramble defence was found wanting for the only time in the game. Exmouth recycled a couple of times, keeping it tight and eventually their blindside found room to wriggle over. The conversion from wide out to give the visitors the lead.

Ultimately that was to be the end of the scoring after just eleven minutes but by no means the end of the action in what was an enthralling battle, more often than not, between the visitors' offence and Okehampton's resolute defence.

Okehampton produced some outstanding defence on their own line to keep the score at 3-7 at half-time.

The tone was set for the second half though as wave after wave of Exmouth attacks were thwarted by some superbly disciplined defence.

George Courtier, Will Bedford, Ryan Gross and Angus Francis were absolutely superb in everything they did and led by example putting bodies on the line.

It was left to the Okehampton defence to shine and it stood up to everything that a strong and powerful Exmouth side could throw at it. The visiting number eight, a South-West representative, could not breach the organised Okes.

The team were a credit to coaches Buster and Wiz Francis.

Tavistock girls U15s 37

Exeter Girls U15s 5

TAVISTOCK, away at Newquay played their toughest opponents, Exeter, this time with the support of five Newquay with each side losing players to regional trials

On a wet and blustery day, Tavistock tore straight into the Exeter team with some blistering runs from Alice, Rosie and Lily M. For much of the first half, Tavistock controlled the game and Lizzie and Fen both scored following good build up play.

Every time Exeter tried to clear their lines, Lily H, Alice, Lydia and Anna stopped them with some great tackling and then Lily M would pin them back in their own 22 with some accurate kicking.

Two of the attacks were started in their own half as Eleanor, then Lizzie and Fen ran hard and straight. On a further two occasions Lily H and Lily M scored to leave the half term score 20-0.

Tavistock's Lauren and Jess, guesting for Exeter, made plenty of tackles against their teammates.

In the second half, Exeter cam back strongly and scored, but after that they could barely get out of their half as Tilly, Fen Lizzie and both Lilys made tackle after tackle. The game then opened up and Eleanor and Tilly nearly scored on the left. Then after a scrum, Lily M scored in the corner and right on the final whistle Fen scored under the posts.

Devon Junior Cup

Okehampton U14s 3

Exeter Saracens U14s 7

FROM previous seasons meetings Saracens probably went into this quarter final feeling confident of an away win. Although the first ten

minutes of the game this probably rang true.

Okehampton soaked up the

pressure well but Saracens scored from a good

passage of play by their back line; the conversion made it 0-7.

This rallied the Okehampton team and having the bigger set of forwards the home side started to pressure the away team in their own 22.

It was not long before they were rewarded with a penalty for a infringement. This was converted by Daniel Thorne to make it 7-3.

The game was delayed just before half time with a serious injury to Harry Elliot having his usual strong game at centre. Fortunately Harry made a good recovery.

The second half was a stale mate, Okehampton making good progress with their forwards with their pick and drives and Saracens with their strong running backs.

It was end to end stuff and in the last five minutes Oke were camped on the Saracens 22. Some strong defence kept the home side out but this was a game which could easily of gone the other way.

Tavistock U13s 27

Stonehouse Sharks U13s 26

TAVISTOCK looked in fine form with the forwards were dominating open play.

Great handling through the backs and quick thinking by Jack M created the overlap and saw him in at the corner. Keeping up the pressure, Ed and Jake immediately took play back deep into Shark territory. Morgan, Jasper, Jake and Joe D led the pack charge to retain possession, setting up Jack M, whose perfectly timed pass and great support play saw Joe P in for Tavistock's second.

More good work, notably again by Jack M in the centre, saw the ball spun wide for Jake to gather and score the third. With the Sharks defence in disarray the half ended with another fine try. Jack M offload perfectly, giving Al the space to score on the stroke of half time to make it 22-0 to Tavistock.

In the second half the cold had taken its toll upon Tavistock and the opposition dominated before Ed's speed and determination and a well timed pass on the line for Jake to gather led to his second try. The Sharks had no intention of lying down and scored another converted try, but it was not enough to deny Tavistock a deserved win.

Okehampton U12s 28

Exeter Saracens U12s 19

IN blustery, cold conditions Saracens made the better start, quickly putting Oke on the back foot, but they protected their try line as a team, repelling any Saracens player who attempted to breach their defences.

Okehampton soon began to show their true colours and a good break from Mo put Saracens on the back foot. The backs showed good hands, passing along the line to Daichi, who manoeuvred his way through the Saracen's back line to score the first try.

Again, Saracens took the upper hand, probing the Oke defences, pushing them slowly back towards their own line but Oke were saved several times by good defensive kicking by Nathan. However, Saracens made their territorial advantage show with an unconverted try.

Both teams started to make a few handling errors in the cold, wet conditions. But with some great interplay between Nathan and Tom S, the latter was able to make a break and score a second try just before half time. George kicked the conversion to give Oke a 14-5 lead.

Oke started the second half as they had finished the first and when Saracens briefly regained the ball, Daniel counter-rucked to feed the ball to Daichi who ran round the entire Saracens defence to score his second try.

Saracens closed the gap to nine points but Oke kept their cool and another great passage of play by the whole team led to James going over for Oke's fourth try.

Saracens scored a consolation try late on, but it did nothing to dampen the excellent team spirit Oke showed throughout in their best performance of the season.

Tavistock U10s 8 tries

Okehampton U10s 7 tries

ON a cold and wet Sunday Tavistco played well as a team, and emerging players such as Toby L, Ewan and Logan, the latter back from injury, took on a lot of responsibility.

Logan took the ball up especially well.

There were two first debut tries for Ben J and Katherine - a reward for lots of hard work and determination this season

Daniel led the offensive effort with five tries, and two of these included lots of passing and support from Jonathan, Tom and William.

Tavistock still have plenty to work on in the tackling scrummaging and lineout departments but this was an encouraging win all the same.

Okehampton U9s 4 tries

Tavistock U9s 8 tries

HOLLY was captain for Okehampton and led by example as she pushed forward against a strong Tavistock side. She was aided with some great defence from her team and some great tackles by Ethan and Sam.

With a well organised Tavistock side pushing hard Oke played well as a team effort to score a try, made by Holly. Okehampton were unable to stop Tavistock scoring four tries in the first half but it was a great team effort from Oke - especially Alex, Aeden and Isaac.

In the second half Jo for Oke gave the Tavistock players a good run around and there was good tackling from Oke's Joe, Jacob and Ethan.

Oke tries came from Joe (2) and Jacob and there were some great effort Alfie, Morgan, Sam, Alex, and Cameron as Tavistock score four more tries.

Okehampton U9s 8 tries

Tavistock U9s 1 try

OKEHAMPTON were captained by Joe as his side played well against a strongly organised Tavistock side.

Tavistock scored a try but Oke pushed back with a great defence with Joe, Jacob, Cameron and Holly pushing forward. Passes from Elliot, Holly, Cameron and Isaac and good team support gave Oke tries from Joe (3), Jacob and Isaac.

The second half played out just as well for Oke, pushing the line forward and giving Tavistock few chances to score.

Joe's strength paid off with three tries while there was great support and pushing forward from Cameron, Alex, Jacob and Alfie gave Oke the lead while there were great tackles from Ethan, Morgan Sam and Elliot and a great team effort by all Oke deserved this win.