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Okehampton 29

First team coach Neil Thomson is hoping his young Ivybridge squad can cause an upset when they travel to face mighty St Austell, who are five points clear at the top of the table after having only lost one league game all season.

Thomson believes that his side can channel some of the same energy that saw massive underdogs England topple the world champions New Zealand, who were previously undefeated in 2012.

He said: 'Maybe we can go down there and relax, just play some rugby.

'It's our last game before the break and I hope we give it everything we have and play without fear.'

Expectations will certainly be low, but Ivybridge know they will have to cut out the unforced errors that ultimately lost them a game they could have won against Okehampton last Saturday.

The Okes have been impressive so far this season, and the frustrating thing from Thomson's point of view was that Ivy matched them for periods of the game, scoring some extremely well-worked tries.

However, in between, they were guilty of tactical naivety and basic errors, some of which Thomson described as schoolboy.

He did admit that the coaching staff are still trying out combinations for what is a very young side, but he says there are still certain standards you cannot fall below.

The potential was there to see, however, particularly when 18-year-old scrum-half Ben Watts burst through the middle before offloading to 18-year-old lock George Wilson to run in a try on the half-hour mark.

Ivybridge had been hit by the late withdrawal of full-back Tom Scoles before the game, something which may go some way to explaining the lack of communication in the back three which Okehampton were able to exploit early on.

Their kick through into acres of space allowed them to score an unconverted try just minutes in.

On thirteen minutes, however, Ivybridge ran a penalty through inside centre Alex Percival, who was singled out for praise by Thomson.

When he was eventually tackled, he off-loaded to blindside flanker Scott Puleston, who finished off the move to open Ivy's account. Adam Bradley's conversion meant the Bridge were in the lead at this point, 7-5.

With Wilson's try, again converted by Bradley, making the score 14-5, all seemed to be going well heading to the half-time whistle.

However, disaster struck for Ivybridge when some woeful tackling allowed Okes to go over in the corner and cut the lead to four points just before the break.

Thomson tried to impress on his charges the importance of scoring first in the second period, but was left frustrated when another kick over the top of their defence, which was again not dealt with, led to a try.

On this occasion, though, Thomson bemoaned an untimely slip by an Ivy winger. The Okes' kicker converted the score to give them the lead at 14-17.

Showing their fighting spirit, Ivybridge fought back again, right winger Liam Healey breaking through to create a three-man overlap.

The ball then went to prop Matt Finn, who sold a dummy as he cut inside and offloaded to the ever-present Puleston, who notched his second of the game to put Ivybridge back in front. Bradley added the extras and Ivy were four points ahead once more.

At this stage the home side would have fancied their chances, but in a high-pressure last twenty minutes their inexperience showed, Thomson saying: 'For the last 15 or 20 it seemed the harder we tried the more mistakes we made.'

Two tries from Okehampton, one of which was very much an early Christmas present, and a conversion from Okes fly-half Carl Poynton brought the final score to 21-29, the eight-point deficit meaning Ivybridge were denied even a losing bonus point.