It was however the fact that Oke were 26-6 up at HT , with a try bonus point already in the bag that makes the loss a particularly hard one to swallow. After their recent away victory at Matson the Okes had hoped to put last season's narrow away defeats behind them, but a failure to put the match out of the hosts reach when in the ascendancy came back to haunt the visitors.

Forced into late changes yet again, this time player-coach Martin Harrison-Browne unavailable through injury, the maroon and ambers kicked off down the slope and were immediately into their stride. The kick off was regathered and the Okes kept possession for the first minute, stretching the home defence across the pitch, eventually creating an overlap up the left flank which allowed winger Kieran Lee to cross for the game's first try after barely 60 seconds. Full back Luke Simmons added the conversion and the Okes had the perfect start.

As is oft the case though, the Okes then went into their shell and allowed the hosts to gain momentum through their persistent tactic of battering their way through the middle channels, using their huge forwards as as a black and white battering ram.The hosts held the upper hand for the next quarter as Oke regularly failed to clear their lines when the chances arose. This allowed pressure to build and home fullback Roberts potted two penalty goals to reduce the deficit to a single point with half an hour gone. Okes had the measure of Pethy outside, but were lacking possession until they finally re-entered home territory in the 31 st minute. Clean lineout ball was secured and eventually Gary Sizmur had a dart and as he was tackled in the home twenty two he produced a sublime offload to put his onrushing centre partner Rhys Palmer in under the posts. Simmons again slotted the extras to make it 14-6 to the Okes.

This was the visitors purple patch, and despite not being dominant so far their cutting attacking edge swiftly produce two more scores. Firstly skipper Tom Mcgrattan, restored to the back row this week, was expertly put in space up the right wing by good hands from back row partner Dean Abrams. The Okes number eight outpaced the flailing cover and ran around under the posts leaving Simmons a simple conversion to make it 21-6. Then , just three minutes before the interval, the Okes scrum, which was dominant all match, forced another free kick. Oke scrum half Richie Friend was alert enough to take a quick tap penalty ,and then strong enough to plough his way over from twenty yards out to secure the try bonus point and put the Okes into a sizable lead at the break.

It was already clear that this was a game of two contrasting styles, however as the second half commenced few foresaw the momentum and points swing that was about to occur. Unlike last time out when the Okes put in a stirring second half effort against the slope at home, this week uncharacteristically porous defence , coupled with a lack of sensible game management saw the Okes on the back foot for long periods. The restart was dropped and the home side began to crank up the forward pressure. Okes failure to bring down the one out ball carriers as they too often went too high with their tackles, saw them defending an attacking scrum in the 50th minute. Another missed tackle then allowed the home number eight to roll over for a five pointer but the conversion was wide. The comeback continued when the Okes were penalised for yet another high tackle two minutes later and Roberts took the opportunity to reduce the arrears further with a well struck penalty kick.

The Okes then finally had a spell of possession and found their way back into the home half and looked threatening.However another turnover and a penalty award allowed the hosts relief once more. The match entered the last quarter and an increasing penalty count was taking its toll on the Okes. The bench entered the fray but it failed to change the Okes fortunes.

Into the last ten minutes and the pressure finally told as the hosts plundered another try , this time down the left flank as the Okes ran out of cover allowing the hosts to cross and convert to make it a one score match at 21-26. It was one way traffic now as the ref yellow carded an Oke forward for an offence as the try was grounded, this also resulted in a penalty for the home side from the kick off. The ball was planted deep into Okes twenty two. The line out was initially repelled but Oke's Richie Friend was adjudged to have infringed and was also shown yellow. Defending a scrum with 13 men, the inevitable then happened as the home side moved the ball just wide enough to create a huge hole in the Okes shorthanded defensive line and the comeback was complete. The conversion from in front was landed, and with a minute left and down to 13 men the Okes had one last chance. They finally strung together some fluent hands and the home side infringed 30 meters out. Minus kicker Simmons who had been replaced, Gary Sizmur strode up to try and snatch victory. In the same match last season he had landed last gasp kick to secure the draw. However he was unable to repeat the feat as his efforts agonisingly struck an upright before rebounding to a Petherton player who kicked the ball off the field to close the match.

There's no doubt this was three points lost rather than two gained for the Okes, but the lessons learned from the manner of defeat will surely prove invaluable in the ongoing development of the young Okes side. There were positives, both in the attacking threat when the ball was moved wide, and the front row that had to play the full eighty minutes this week dominated at scrum time. However the defence and decision making will need to improve next Saturday when the Okes travel to an improving Thornbury outfit KO 2.30 PM.

Okehampton RFC

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