Western Counties West Wellington 18

Okehampton 18

WITH both teams in the lower half of the table this was a game they both needed to win. The game started at a fast pace with Okehampton pressing forward. But for some handling errors at crucial moments the away team might well have scored in the first 10 minutes.

Fifteen minutes into the game Wellington were awarded a penalty in front of the Okes' posts and scored the 3 points on offer. Wellington continued to push forward and a few minutes later ran in a good try in near the posts which was converted to raise the tally to 10 points.

The Okes then gained possession and came back into the game. With the forwards beginning to dominate they were awarded a penalty 30 metres out from the posts and fly half Luke Wonnacott landed the points to make the score 10-3 to Wellington.

With seven minutes of the first half remaining, Wellington left winger Pitman broke away from his own 10 metre line and ran in a try in the left hand corner, beating three visiting defenders with sheer pace. At this point Substitute Neil Perrott came on at no 8 with Sam Turner moving up into the second row. Neil's presence made an immediate difference. Following some good interplay between the Okehampton players Gareth Espin scored a try near the posts right on the stroke of half time. Luke Wonnacott converted to make the half time score 13-8 to Wellington.

Okehampton started the second half with a determination not seen in recent weeks, and began to look as though they might take the game from Wellington.

The pack pressed forward and camped near the Wellington line for a long period, constantly dominating the Wellington pack though a series of five metre scrums. Wellington's desperate defence managed to keep them out, though only by giving away a series of penalties. Just as it seemed Oke might gain a penalty try, they pushed the Wellington pack back over their own try line and touched down for a try by Neil Perrott to the right of the posts. Fly half Luke Wonnacott kicked the conversion and give Okehampton the lead for the first time on the game at 13-15.

Further Okehampton pressure resulted in a kickable penalty when a Wellington player failed to release the ball in the tackle. Luke Wonnacott added the three points to make it 13-18 midway through the half.

Wellington then gained some possession but the Oke pack continued to mostly dominate the set piece play. It was now Okehampton's turn to defend their try line for a sustained period. On at least three occasions the Wellington backs worked an overlap but poor handling let them down and they failed to score.

Oke scrum half Joey Brice was penalised under his own posts for not being straight at the put in to another scrum. Taking a quick tap the Wellington forwards pushed over the try line, but the referee disallowed the score as the ball was held up.

From the resulting five metre scrum Joey Bruce was caught in possession and Wellington's back row secured possession. The ball was moved quickly along the backs to the right. Finally they did put a move together and with less than 2 minutes to go ran in a try in the right hand corner to tie the score at 18-18. The Wellington number 10 Dean had a difficult kick at goal to win the game and his effort faded to the right of the post, leaving honours shared. While a draw was a fair result, the Okehampton performance had been good enough to win the game.