Regional 1 South West: Okehampton 12-24 Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare ended their run of eleven defeats as they took maximum points from their trip to Oaklands Park to face fellow strugglers Okehampton in a game that began in some challenging conditions, writes Chris Heath.
The visitors had the elements and the slope in their favour, and after a very short time, centre Huw Morgan's good work earned them a penalty, which fly-half George Nuttycombe kicked deep into Okehampton territory.
However, with what has become somewhat predictable this season, the attempted lineout throw evaded all would-be catchers and ended with the Okes getting their tails up and, in their first serious piece of possession, fly-half Rhys Palmer scored from long range.
Then a fine tackle by centre Bradley McPate ended with a penalty to Weston which Nuttycombe kicked 50 metres to the corner. Weston then retained the line out, and from the resulting drive, prop Sam Coles powered his way over for a richly deserved equaliser.
Weston then had to replace hooker Gary Carpenter with Josh Mynett, but this did not affect the strength of the pack too much as Weston, when allowed, were dominant in the scrum.
The game then was a bit to and fro before full-back Christopher Young produced an excellent catch and offload to right-wing Joe Burgess, whose inside pass to scrum-half Dan Lomax was just a bit too hot for him to handle with the line beckoning.
Okehampton instead broke up the field to score through centre Brandon Horn from near their own line despite Weston's protests that wing Hayden Main was held back off the ball, preventing a tackle. Fellow centre Kevin Dennis converted as the hosts went in at halftime seven points to the good.
The second half started with a major reshuffle as flanker Kieran Broomsgrove and his replacement Sam Fisher both succumbed to injuries. Morgan was redeployed to the back row with Dominic Marshall replacing him in the centre.
This could have affected Weston, allied to now playing into the elements and up the slope, but they produced a fine forty minutes. An intense period of play by the visitors gave them a chance to reduce the lead but another overthrown lineout thwarted the excellent work.
Then, some lovely interplay between forwards and backs led to a five-metre scrum for Weston, whose second-half display was encouraging. The ensuing scrum was heading for the line and the Okehampton scrum-half Richard Bolt received a yellow card for diving in.
No penalty try was awarded, but this changed at the reconvened scrum. The referee awarded Weston the seven points after another infringement to draw level which their second-half display richly deserved.
The visitors then took the lead when number 8 Jay Davis crossed out wide following a tremendous scrum against the head. Prop Coles then left the field with an ankle injury, and Carpenter, who replaced him, immediately earned a penalty.
Weston were then put under the cosh but a loose pass led to left-wing Hayden Main kicking it 80 metres and diving over to put Weston ten points clear and then the cherry on the cake was added with the conversion by Nuttycombe from wide out.
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