Sat 22 Jan 2022
Polson bridge was rocking right from minute one and through till Feedback & Friends finished their set in the Clubhouse afterwards. The crowd of 800+ was treated to a proper Cornwall-Devon derby and eventually the spoils went to the home team with an additional bonus point try in the last minute to deny Okehampton a losing bonus point, which no-one would have grumbled about.
The CABs were coming into this game riding the crest of a winning run and straight after a tryfest at Ivybridge, however one thing everyone was aware of would be Okehampton's desire and fight to give their nearest rivals a full-blooded contest and it was full-blooded; every breakdown Okehampton throw bodies into, their defence rushed the CABs into playing a game that in all honesty, they didn't really want to be drawn into ie loose, unstructured with tap penalties, unnecessary offloads - a style of rugby that in recent weeks they had moved away from. The upshot was that Okehampton forced their way into a 15-0 lead after 20 minutes. To win some games of rugby, you've got to put out the fire that the opposition bring first and then you can impose your game. One thing that was starting to happen was that the CABs were eventually getting some possession and playing their patterns, this was leading to the penalty infringements increasing from Okehampton and a series of offences in the Okehampton 22 led to some yellow cards being brandished and a resulting first score for the CABs with a penalty try via a scrum collapse. Half-time and the scoreboard read 7-15 and a chance for the coaching team to just reinforce the pre-match message of control the game via our patterns and structures and fair play to the team that is exactly what they started doing.
The CABs kicking game was starting to make Okehampton play in areas they didn't want to, the team were also starting to use their heavy carriers a bit more directly to get on the front foot and Adam Collings, at 9, was quickly becoming the most influential player on the park, with his pinpoint kicks. This eventually led to Brandon Rowley smashing over a couple of Oke defenders and some wonderful backs play to release Dan Pearce coming off his left wing. Both superbly converted by him, along with a penalty to edge the CABs in front. However, probably the most impressive component of the CABs play was the lineout - in all the maelstrom that was going around it, this was the one area where there was calmness, clarity of thought and perfect execution. As the game wore on it became inevitable that Okehampton could not disrupt it and so deny the CABs possession - it was almost death by a thousand lineouts! It was fitting that the final play was a CABs lineout and drive that was joined at the last second by Ryan Westren to dot down and start that raucous celebrations of players and crowd. Once again, the Polson crowd got their money's worth and most importantly, helped see the boys home. It would great for the boys if that can be repeated when the impressive Weston Super Mare visit.
