Regional 1 Tribute South West

Weston-super-Mare 22 Okehampton 10 

Weston broke their duck at the third attempt against a plucky Okehampton team who started the better of the two teams piling pressure on an up to this game porous defence. Immediately there were signs that Weston had learnt from the opening two defeats as their defending improved immeasurably.

After the early onslaught Weston took the lead when a catch and drive followed by a run between the centres by left wing Hayden Main allowed outside centre Cameron Maslen and fly half James Mackay to combine with full back Chris Young who put prolific right wing Joe Burgess over.

Okehampton hit back with a lot of possession and were eventually stopped in the right corner illegally by lock Ashley Russell who earned a yellow card for his misdemeanour.
Weston's improved defence held out despite giving away another three penalties in quick succession.

The hosts were then hit with another sin binning when Russell's co lock Alex Payne was told to rest for ten minutes. With Weston down to thirteen the home side managed to get to half time with their Devon visitors pointless.

It didn't take long however for Okehampton to draw level at the start of the second period when their right wing Paul Pengelly crossed after a good period of play. Straight from the restart the visitors attacked out wide and with Weston getting short of defenders it was just as well Burgess sniffed an opportunity and intercepted to run forty meters for a try. Mackay expertly converted.

A superb fifty twenty from Young almost ended in a try for hooker Josh Mynett but the hosts missed out. Likewise the visitors provided their own version of Youngs feat and only a tremendous piece of defending by Mynett giving Weston a penalty prevented the Okes from scoring.

However they did cut the lead to two points when they broke blind from a five metre scrum and crossed wide out. The conversion was missed.

Mackay then added a penalty before a pushover try courtesy of props Sam Coles and Ollie Streeter who rejoined the fray as a sort of special teams allowed captain and number eight Tom Sugg to dab down for Mackay to complete the scoring.

Although still nowhere near their performances of last season there were signs of life in the Weston team. Flankers Callum Kingscott and Ben Cox both had a fine game and Mynett and Russell provided a more solid line out than in the first two outings.Sugg and Payne worked hard and the scrum was its usual solid self.

In the backs Burgess's aptitude for scoring tries was once again to the fore and Main had a promising league debut. But it was the old heads of Young and Mackay who marshalled the team when it was needed to gain their first victory.