Western Counties West

Okehampton 21

Wellington 8

FOR the third week in succession the Okes put in a fine performance to see off visiting Wellington.

With Okehampton playing uphill and into a stiff breeze the first ten minutes were scrappy with numerous mistakes from both sides. The Wellington pack began to exert some pressure but the Oke defence held firm. Following Wellington hooker, David Swann being held up over the Oke line, the ensuing five metre attacking scrum saw the Okes push the Wellington eight off the ball and set up their own attack from deep. Wing Lewis Taylor and full-back Gareth Espin succeeded in taking play well into the Wellington half. Oke were awarded a penalty but the penalty by Lewis hit the post.

After 25 minutes coach Gaz Evans made inroads in midfield to keep the ball alive. Rhys Palmer, having another fine game, showed some great footwork before offloading to Liam Sampson for the touchdown. Back came Wellington and after 32 minutes a penalty to the bottom corner after hands in the ruck by Oke resulted in a try by Daniel Smythe-Moore after an effective rolling maul.

Wellington were finding it difficult to judge the strong wind and several kicks were wasted as they went into the in-goal area. Despite being outweighed up-front by a bigger pack Oke would not take a step backwards. The back row of Liam Sampson, Dean Abrams and Gaz Evans dug into the opposition and made life difficult for them.

Wellington, with a good 65% of the possession really showed little in the way of attacking flair and were largely nullified by the fine Okes' defence.

Just before the interval Okehampton conceded a penalty for not rolling away from the tackle and Will Hancox duly took the three points. Right on the half-time whistle a great attack by the Okes involving Rhys on the loop released Gareth Espin and Lewis Taylor who was hauled down just short of the Wellington line to leave it at half time Okehampton 7 Wellington 8.

The second half kick-off was not taken cleanly by Okes and saw them immediately under pressure. Gary Sizmur infringed and spent the next ten in the sin bin. After 43 minutes another massive scrum by the Oke eight saw fly half Rhys Palmer put in a big kick down the slope. The kick was well followed up by centre Luke Honeychurch who charged down the attempted clearing kick and scored under the posts. Lewis converted to make it 14-8 to the home side.

The Okes, with the benefit of the stiff breeze and slope, were beginning to take control of the match and after 54 minutes, despite a poor line out, Oke turned over the ball and Lewis Taylor running a great line from his wing released Luke for his second try.

The final quarter saw the match become very bad tempered. Sampson and the Wellington number three were sin binned by the referee for an off-the-ball fracas and another visiting player was also shown yellow for throwing a punch.

This was another fine win for the Okes who are really becoming an effective unit under coach Evans. Fitness, defensive lines, speed in attack and the ability to play for 80 minutes are becoming the hallmarks of this side. Okehampton have a small squad of players but the fact that everyone in the side is playing for each other is seeing them through against teams that, in the main, are bigger and better resourced.