HOME WIN

The Ivybridge supporters welcomed the 1XV back for their first home match of the 2021-22 campaign after two tough away trips to Hornets and Weston-super-Mare.

Matt Grieveson slotted over two penalties in the first 5 minutes and gave us the perfect start.

Kieran Lee pulled one back for Okehampton but Grieveson then kicked two more to give us a 12-3 lead after 20 minutes.

With a player sin-binned when Okehampton pressed after a 22 kick gave them a line-out five-metre out. They then camped on our line for a good five minutes but could find no way through our stern defence.

Then against the run of play, when Okehampton overthrew a line-out, the ball fell perfectly for scrum-half Ben Watts, and he ran his own half to score in the right corner to giving us 17-3 half-time lead.

Grieveson and Lee exchanged penalties at the start of the second half before Cam Setter showed good speed and strength to score close to the posts and put us 27-6 ahead.

Okehampton, did reduce the deficit to 27-11 with a drive try from Tom White, but our tails were up, despite going down to 14 men again after a yellow card following a brawl.
Adam Northcott scored a fine try behind the posts which Grieveson converted.

Director of rugby Jamie Tripcony was delighted with the win.

“The guys have worked really hard for this. Having two away games was a tough start to the season and, as Gareth had said during the week, we were just excited to be at home again and show our fans who have not seen us for nearly two years what we can still do.”
"In rugby you have to try and build a lead, the points were on offer so we decided to take them. We felt in control of the game with our go-forward. Our speed at the breakdown allowed us to apply the pressure that got us those penalties. It was a chance to settle the nerves and get ourselves into the game.”
"I was delighted with the way the team defended with 14 men towards the end of the first half. That is probably what won us the game. There was a huge momentum swing from us being five-metres from our own line to then getting a turnover and going the length of the field to score a try. The guys put in a real big shift defensively and that was a big part of the game."
“We do pride ourselves on our defence and the guys really stood up.”
“We had an opportunity of a 4th try near the end, but there’s always going to be work-ons. “But we are just pleased to get the win. We were just desperate for the win and the guys’ work-rate showed that. Full credit to the guys as it wasn’t just on the day it was the build-up – last week and the week before working hard in training.”