3rds- Old legs V Young legs

On a bright sunny day and in front of a packed crowd the 3rds made their home debut in the early kick off at Oaklands Park against Exeter Saracens 2nd team.

The first 10 minutes of the game were pretty even before Oke fell behind as Saracens broke through the defensive line to score the first try of the day. Despite playing up the hill and against a much younger side Oke battled their way up the pitch before being awarded a penalty which Will Searle struck over to reduce the deficit (7-3).

Oke then suffered a setback when their only recognised hooker had to be helped from the pitch with what looked a nasty knee injury. After a quick game of paper, scissor and stone amongst the substitutes, Oke found a willing volunteer to go hooker! Despite the two sides being evenly matched in the middle of the park it was Saracens, who for the second time, broke away and scored their second try of the day (12-3). Oke continued battling hard and came close to their first try as they were held up just short of the line. However it wasn’t long before Arnie Searle crashed over the Saracens line to score Oke’s first try of the day. Will Searle then converted his dads try to reduce the score (12-10).

It wasn’t long before Saracens extended their lead with their third try of the day when a hopeful kick to the corner somehow didn’t bounce in to touch and they won the chase to touch down (19-10). Oke didn’t let their heads drop and soon closed the deficit again when Will Searle made a break through the Saracens line to race clear and touch down. Again Will converted to close the gap to 19-10. The highlight of the half was when the Saracens No 10 broke through the defence and raced towards the Oke line to what seemed would be a certain try…….however he seemed to forget that between him and the line was the Oke full back Evan Rees who had just come on. Rolling back the years and to the delight of the large crowd Evan flattened the on rushing fly half saving a certain try.At the half time whistle Oke were in a good position just 2 points behind.

The second half saw Oke bring on lots of fresh legs and were hopeful of causing an upset playing down the hill however it wasn’t long before Saracens broke the Oke line and raced away to score again. This was the theme for the second half and as soon as Saracens had broken the line their younger and fitter players were just able to race to the line. Oke kept battling hard and attacking well and eventually were rewarded for the hard work when the makeshift scrum half Buzz Brimmacombe picked the ball up from the base of the scrum and dived over.

Saracens outpaced the Oke defence on a few more occasions before the final whistle to win the game 51 – 21. Despite the score line Oke could be proud of the efforts against what was obviously a much younger and fitter side and it was a good game to watch. It was also good to see some family ties on the same pitch as each other with Arnie and Will Searle and Mark and Ian Scrivener playing alongside each other.

Thanks must go to the large crowd that turned up to support the team. The support was appreciated by all the players.

Editors Note: This report was the recollection of an old man who's memory might have been clouded by concision or copious amounts of port and beer………..