Okehampton U14s 29

Kingsbridge U14s 10

OKEHAMPTON Under 14s' season reached its climax with the team taking on Kingsbridge in the final of the Devon Plate competition at Cullompton.

Having lost to Kingsbridge earlier in the season, Oke knew they would have a tough match on their hands, but from the kick off it was clear that they were on fighting form.

From their first scrum the ball came out cleanly along the line to Jim Finley who raced to the line to score. Nathan Tomkins kicked a superb conversion to give Oke a dream start and go 7-0 ahead. The game then settled down into an intriguing, tense and exciting series of attacks and counter-attacks, with both sides working hard to break through, and it was just on half time when Oke struck again with another well-worked move from the lineout, finished skilfully by George Dickinson to give the team a 12-0 lead.

Oke got the second half under way, but gave away an early penalty. Kingsbridge kicked to touch, but Oke won the lineout and Ollie Browne spun a neat pass out to the backs where it came to Noah Cracknell, who powered his way through to the line to score between the posts. At 17 points to the good, Oke attacked again and good work from Tom Stevens, Nathan and Daichi Budiman got the ball out to Jim who found a way through to score his second. 22-0. Kingsbridge, playing now with 14 due to injury, continued to attack and must be praised for their continued pressure, which resulted in their first score.

After the restart Kingsbridge won a penalty and kicked to touch again, but their throw in was not straight. Oke chose to scrum, and a perfectly worked move started by scrum half Kai Middleton allowed Daichi to sprint away from his pursuers and score. Nathan converted and Oke were 29-5 up.

To their credit, Kingsbridge's heads didn't drop, and despite losing another player they capitalised on Oke's brief loss of focus to score a fine try. With the score at 29-10, Oke chased the restart ball and started to build towards another attack when the final whistle blew.

The boys thoroughly deserved their victory. Every single player must be praised for contributing to the win with probably their best performance of the season.

Okehampton U13s 39

Redruth U13s 17

AS part of the President's Day celebrations, Okehampton welcomed the unbeaten Cornish champions, Redruth, to finish their season in style. 

The visitors started strongly, advancing on Oke's tryline, using their heavier pack to advantage. However, Oke's Saul Holliday stripped them of their maul ball, with the clearance kick collected by Greg Haste before passing out to Will Cunningham, who was caught with a high tackle.  The resultant tap and go went crossfield, with Barnaby Waddell powerfully straightening the line, to put Olly Northcott over to open the scoring. 

Minutes later an almost identical straightening run from Daniel Tomkins saw Olly Northcott cut back inside, splitting the Redruth defence, to put James Close across the line.

Not allowing their heads to drop, Redruth swiftly replied with their own, well taken try to open their scoring.  The visitors then conceded a free kick from their lineout, which was quickly taken, and saw Daniel Tomkins power over to score.  Bringing the first half to a close powerful forward play by Redruth rewarded them with their second try.

Right from the start of the second half Okehampton applied the pressure on their visitors, keeping the ball alive with forwards and backs working hard to support each other, resulting in a try from Joshua McCulloch. 

This was followed by Barnaby Waddell, who stole Redruth's lineout ball, powering half the length of the pitch to score an impressive individual try. 

Determined attack from Redruth was met with staunch defence, with a clearance kick from their own try line, seeing Greg Haste quick to clear the ensuing ruck ball, out through Will Cunningham, Joshua Burgoyne and James Close, to put Barnaby Waddell in for his second try.  Okehampton's final try came minutes later when a neatly executed crossfield kick from Joshua Burgoyne, was well collected by Will Cunningham to score. 

All credit to Redruth, who did not give up and used their forward strength to score their third try. 

The whole Okehampton squad put in an outstanding team performance, defensively determined, aggressively attacking with superb ball handling, intelligent kicking, and support always readily available.

Conversions Joshua Burgoyne and James Close.

Okehampton U11s 25

Exeter Chiefs U11s 30

THE Exeter Chiefs as always were well drilled in passing and had some good talent but Okehampton put the pressure on from the start with every player putting in 100%.

Morgan for Oke was outstanding and exactly where he was needed to be, crashing through the Chiefs' line, passing out, and with him and Isaac taking down everything that got in their way. Ethan had not lost his ability to be given the ball and run forward dragging the opposition with him, which proved useful against a strong Chiefs' side.

Jacob received the ball, passed out to Morgan who fed Ethan, who ran forward dragging players with him to get to the try line just missing by inches.

Matt made huge progress in tackling and could not be stopped. Jacob was impressive and become a key player at receiving the ball and making the right choices for great game play.

However, by the end of this half it was 25-0 to the Chiefs.

After the break each Oke player stepped it up and gave it their all. Luke made his mark, Marcus getting into position and playing well and Isaac making sure the opposition did not have it easy trying to get past him.

The Oke boys tackled, scrummed, ripped and fought it back to 30-25 to the Chiefs and it all came down to the last five minutes.

Ollie, making his debut made a good first impression passing out as Oke got metres away from their line. Pushing up and not allowing the Chiefs even an inch, they came so close as the final whistle blew.

This game showed every player's advantages and how much they have grown individually and as a team.