Ivybridge U16s 19

Okehampton U16s 24

OKEHAMPTON produced a stirring second half fight back to overcome a powerful Ivybridge side at Cross-in-Hand.

The visitors had a lacklustre opening 20 minutes in which they fell 14 points behind with the forwards off the pace.

Okehampton were the masters of their own destruction during a mad couple of minutes on the quarter hour mark. They failed to clear their lines to concede a needless penalty, leading to the Ivybridge number eight going under the posts to leave the extras a formality.

Two minutes later after failing to field the restart the home centres combined in midfield to release the thirteen on a clear run to the line; the extras converted to leave Okehampton 'a mountain to climb.'

The visitors rallied and enjoyed some more consistent pressure but the closest they came to crossing the line was thwarted as a fine Conor Stevens run was ended just short. Ivybridge extended their advantage when their outside centre scored his second try out wide to make it 19-0 to the home side.

In the second half Okehampton had the elements to their advantage but all to do to overturn the deficit. They scored early on as a line-out ball allowed fly-half, Rhys Palmer to break through and score next to the posts with Lewis Taylor converting.

Okehampton now had their tails up; a powerful counter-ruck reduced the arrears as the ball was squeezed out and Palmer fly hacked the loose ball on before chasing up the kick to ground the ball. Lewis Taylor converted.

The decisive moment came ten minutes before the end as the Oke took the lead for the first time, Conor Stevens' deft chip led to Frank Smith winning a foot race to score out wide. Taylor converted and scored another penaly after the hosts were penalised for holding on. It completed a tremendous fight back, full of character, strength and passion for a fine victory.

This week Oke U16s are at home to Honiton, kick-off 11am.

Tavistock U14s 24

Stonehouse U14s 22

TAVISTOCK U14s eventually came out on top in this Devon Plate game. Tavistock made good use of the wind at their backs, kicked for good field position and were rewarded with a try from Ethan Lamerton, who cut through the Stonehouse defence to score under the posts. George Hillson added the conversion.

Stonehouse soon struck back through some muscular play from their powerful forwards, driving over the line from a lineout but unable to add the conversion.

Tavistock bounced back and Will Partington extended their lead before the break rounding off some flowing back play to score his first try.

Stonehouse started the second half powerfully with their forwards leading the way with some impressive drives. They soon brought the game all square before scoring again and moving into a 17-12 lead. The last ten to 15 minutes were very tense but Tavistock stuck to their task by looking to release their potent back line whenever they secured decent possession.

Will Partington scored a fine individual effort and George Hillson added the conversion. Stonehouse struck again taking them into a 22-19 lead in the last five minutes. Fortunately, for Tavistock a loose kick from the Plymouth side was fielded by full back Dan Willis who fed Will Partington. He proceeded to run from within his own half chinking his way over to score in the corner, completing his hat trick with pretty much the last play of the game and taking Tavistock through to the next round.

Torquay U13s 7

Okehampton U13 19

OKEHAMPTON progressed through to the next round of the county plate competition. Boosted by two new players they came away with a hard earned victory,

The visitors were quickly into their stride, and good early hands put winger Ben McKenna-Smith, making an impressive debut, away up the left touchline. He showed a combination of pace and power to outflank the defence and cross under the posts. Leon Horn added the conversion for an early 7-0 lead.

Oke doubled their lead after good forward pressure resulting in centre Ollie Ardon stealing his way over left of the uprights. Leon Horn converted and the lead was 14-0 at half-time.

With the wind in their favour, Oke looked to extend their lead. With ten minutes stand-off Ebby Vallance crossed in the bottom left corner after backing himself from a blind side sortie.

Torquay rallied well and scored a consolation try in the dying minutes. Oke showed stout defensive qualities in the time remaining and saw the match out.

Tavistock U12s 21

Okehampton U12s 21

BOTH teams played extremely well in a hard fought draw. 

Tavistock took first blood with a well worked try from Jude White after great work from the forwards. Exeter scored almost immediately and then there was a major blow to Tavistock when they lost their playmaker Lochlan Fulton to injury.

However, Jack Smyly scored a well worked try to give Tavistock the lead at half time.

The second half saw Tavistock facing the wind and letting Saracens take two early tries. This fired up the Tavistock team and the final 10 minutes was continued pressure from them which eventually saw another try for Jude after Jason Blake had yet again popped up with the ball and quickly moved it down the line via Luke Lewandowski, Zac Gorton and Jacob Houlberg. 

The Tavistock pack (Joe Burbage, Morgan Turnock, John Lord, Archie Allen, Jason and Peter Bull) were tremendous in securing the ball for the backs and the backs worked hard to get points on the board. Special mention goes to Tavistock player of the match Archie Allen for his commitment to the game and Jacob Houlberg.

Exeter Chiefs U12s 15

Okehampton U15s 25

FROM the first whistle the game was fast and furious and with firm resolution undefeated Okehampton slowly began their campaign.

From the back of a driving scrum Kai at scrumhalf flicked the ball out to Brad S, who switched it into Daichi, storming his way through only to be stopped but not before offloading to Callum; he passed it out to Tom D who was stopped just short of the Chiefs' line.

First blood though went to the Chiefs but credit to the Oke boys they answered straight back through a Kai try before Chiefs struck again. Oke forwards worked hard to create opportunities for Nathan (2) to surge through to equal the score.

Oke began to come to life with the whole team deserving a mention - all played with great commitment in a convincing win.

Will, George, Alex and Brad B all put in commendable performances and with further tries coming from Daichi (1) and James (1).

Oke U10s 1 try

Exeter Chiefs

U10s 9 tries

AGAINST a powerful Exeter Chiefs, Okehampton showed great improvement from the corresponding fixture earlier in the season.

An early try from Theo, who ran the full length of the pitch to score, gave Oke the lead. Ryan, Seb, and Lewis had their work cut out against a large Chiefs' scrum, making possession of the ball difficult to come by.

Despite this, Okehampton only trailed by three tries to one at the break.

Although the Chiefs ran in six second-half tries, there was some committed tackling from Oliver, Thomas, Harry and Edward. A lot of encouragement can be taken from this performance into the remainder of the season.

Tavistock U9s 8 tries

Exeter Saracens U9s 2

DESPITE Exeter Saracens scoring straight from the kick off Tavistock U9s could not be prevented from producing an exciting display of flowing rugby. 

Tavistock equalised immediately and, building on an excellent defence, they were consistently in the Saracens' half.  Tavistock passed the ball very well and their support play was as good as it has been all season.  They organised quickly at the breakdown and were determined in the tackle. 

With Captain Will Hutton showing good leadership and man of the match Max Jordan superb in the tackle,

Tavistock U9s 8 tries

Exeter Saracens U9s 5

TAVISTOCK were creative in possession and passed the ball well, supported each other and played at speed. 

Saracens played to their strengths forcing Tavistock to also produce some good tackles to keep ahead. 

But Tavistock were the hungrier and more committed team to deserve their win. 

Captain Alex Richardson scored two tries and communicated well while player of the match Ted Kenyon passed well from the breakdown.  Joe Wheeldon (5), Jack Lane (2), Ollie Pett, Tommy Murrin, Freddie Fuller, Jonathan Griffiths, Max Jordan, Billy Wilkinson and Liam Watt scored the tries.

Oke U9s 5 tries

Exeter Chiefs U9s 7

EXETER Chiefs put a lot of pressure on Okehampton in this first home game of the season but a great defence from Oke and a real team effort ended in just missing a draw.

Oke were captained by Elliot who made some good tackles and there were great interception tries by Joe. There was great team support from all players in this tough game. Marcus, Aedan and Cameron stuck into tackles and Alfie pushed forward with some good passing skills by Finlay, Elliot, Matt and Marcus., It was a great game of attack and defence from both sides. Oke tries by Joe 3, Cameron and Aiden.

Okehampton U9s 1 try

Exeter Chiefs

U9s 12 tries

THE second game proved to be just as tough with the Chiefs attacking with a good line. Oke played well at defence there was a great team effort with some good passing down the line by Ethan and Seth with Isaac pushing forward and making some superb tackles along with Ethan, Holly and captain Alex.

The scoreline really does not reflect how well Oke defended and persevered with constant tackles and passing in a great team effort to get to the try line. Oke scored in the last five minutes with Sam pushing through and getting that try with support from Morgan and Josh. Isaac was Oke's player of the match.

Okehampton U8s 9 tries

Exeter Chiefs U8s 8

THE game started with a quick try from the Chiefs. Archie S for Oke, who scored one try, passed well to Lachlann on more than one occasion and Ben was noted for his tagging.

Lachlann was on form scoring four. Adam's quick thinking showed when he scooped a loose ball and used it to score. Will, who scored one try, passed to Ben who was tagged and passed to Adam for his second try.

Impressive passing down the length of the pitch resulted in a try for captain Shea. Callum was always in the game and worked exceptionally hard.

Okehampton U8s 10 tries

Exeter Chiefs 9

A CLOSELY fought game saw Saul working well for Oke with his tagging all over the pitch, he was rewarded with three tries.

Archie G prevented a try with a tag just before the line and Liam tagged well too. Dan and Saul worked well together, Dan scored three tries. Toby scored one try together with Callie who scored one too. Sam started the game cautiously but soon found confidence with his powerful running across the pitch to head off a try with high speed tagging but also scored two tries. Support and teamwork was seen from Jacob, Korben, Finn and Alex.

Okehampton U7s 60

Exeter Chiefs 43

OKEHAMPTON played four games against Exeter with a squad of 13.

With some good running rugby and support play played  by both teams, Oke just edged out the Chiefs in all the games with the boys playing good tag rugby.

Tries scored by Grady, Cain,Thomas, Max B, Oliver, Max J,Harry, Cameron, Billy, Freddie, Matthew, Callum and Hector on his debut scoring two.