On a damp Saturday afternoon in South Devon with the pitch looking worse than the condition of the Okes back pitch when our game against Keynsham was called off, the Okes succumbed, meekly in the end, to a determined, disciplined Teignmouth side.

The opening exchanges were pretty even with the Okes trying to play open rugby when perhaps what was needed was a more pragmatic “stick-it-up-your-shirt” approach. Luke Simmons put in a testing kick for the Teignmouth defence and when Winger Kieran Lee followed up with a speculative kick ahead a try looked to have been scored only for the No.10’s kick adjudged to have just touched the line (by Oke touch judge Ross Medlyn!) Most of the play was in the home side 22 and after 10 minutes Teignmouth had not strayed into the Okes half of the field. Play was not unexpectedly scrappy given the conditions but at this stage the Okes defence was looking good with Pat Nash and Dean Abrams putting in some good hits.

Teignmouth were slowly beginning to get into the match and Oke were guilty of beginning to fall off some crucial tackles. The penalty count was beginning to ratchet up for the visitors but their defence was just holding and a good break in mid-field by player/coach Martin Harrison-Brown relieved some of the home side's pressure. However, on 22 minutes a good individual try by the Teignmouth No.10 Lidstone who ghosted through the poor Oke defence and opened the scoring. The conversion was missed.

Oke were managing to stay in the match thanks to some great play by the excellent Richie Friend who appeared to be doing the work of two men. Some of the home side’s play was only spoiled by frequent knocks-on which let the Okes stay in the game. After 33 minutes Ian Langbridge replaced Joe Mawle and Gareth Espin came on for Brandon Horn. Richie Friend with astute kicking put the Okes into the Teignmouth red zone from where Tom Powell cut a great line through the home defence to score a well-deserved try under the home side posts. He duly converted his own try to make the score 7-5 to the Okes at half-time.

The second period saw the Okes kick off not 10m resulting in a home side scrum on the half-way-line. From this scrum Teignmouth were on the attack and when the Okes did not deal with the kick through a mix up in defence saw their No 12 Filip Perica touch down under the posts with an easy conversion making the score 12-7 to Teignmouth. A penalty by Tom Powell after 42 minutes gave some hope to the visiting supporters but The home side were beginning to take control of the match with their weighty pack obviously “up for it” whilst the Okes looked off the pace and some gave the impression that they were not quite up for the battle. The Oke forays were beginning to splutter out but Rhys Palmer did make one good break only to be brought down with an excellent ankle tap when he was in full flow. The home side were also having the better of the kicking contest and their pressure was beginning to tell. After several minutes in the Oke red-zone Teign’s created a clear overlap on the left to send No 11 Matt Laventure over for an easy try. The home side were now in total control and only heroic efforts by the Okes prevented yet another score. The final 5 minutes were played almost exclusively in the Oke 5m area.

A disappointing result for the Okes who for all their huff and puff looked just off the pace for most of the match and will need to improve on Easter Saturday when the visitors to Oaklands are North Petherton who will bring another big pack of forwards. Kick off will be at 3.00pm now that the clocks have gone forward.

Okehampton RFC

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