Wadebridge Camels 5 Okehampton 9

Tribute Western Counties West
Wadebridge Camels 5 Okehampton 9
By Nigel Walrond
WADEBRIDGE Camels are still in some relegation trouble after losing at home to a side who still harbour ambitions of winning the Tribute Western Counties West title.
With the three teams behind them boasting games in hand, Camels were hoping to put some distance between themselves and their rivals for the drop.
But instead they had to settle for a losing bonus point, despite scoring the only try of the game.
“We got a bonus point and Saltash did us a favour by beating Penryn and the other results went our way, but we are just gutted by the result,” said Camels head coach Mike Rawlings.
“We missed a conversion right in front of the posts, and those kicks you wouldn’t miss nine times out of ten and it kind of summed it up for us, and another penalty chance just went wide of the posts.
“If those two had gone over, it would have been a different story. Okehampton played well, but I wouldn’t say they are a top of the league team.
“However, their defence was absolutely solid and at times that frustrated us, because we had a lot of the ball and we attacked well and we were strong in the forwards.
“Our defence was also solid and the guys played exceptionally well, but you can’t afford to give away 23 penalties in 80 minutes, even though half of those were in the scrum, where Okehampton were at a different level and we really struggled to cope with that, and I think that’s what got them the win.”
Camels scored the only try of the game at Molesworth Field, through Cornwall No.8 Mark Grubb, but three penalties by scrum half Gary Sizmur snatched victory for Okes.
With Exeter University crying off their trip to Truro, Okehampton are now into second place in the table, 16 points behind leaders Kingsbridge but with three games in hand.
Wadebridge have three games left this season, ending with two home fixtures after their trip to Cullompton on Saturday, and Rawlings said: “Two more wins and we are definitely safe, but one more and we should be okay for next season.”
Wadebridge: Pengelly, Bright, Pretty, Humphrey (capt), D Hawkey, Thomas, S Hawkey, Treleaven, Tarby, Bilkey, Dawe, Scott, Smith, Stone, M Grubb. Replacements: Blemings, Hitchings.
Wadebridge: Try: M Grubb.
Okehampton: Pens: Sizmur (3).