Sat 17 Sep 2022
Match Report Curtesy of Plymouth Sports Gazette
OPMs got their Devon East season off to a tremendous start with a 68-7 home win over a young Exeter Athletic side at King George V Playing Fields on Saturday.
The Old Boys ended up running in 10 tries, with young brothers Fred and Matt Smale accounting for four of them.
OPMs only led 19-0 at half-time with breakaway tries from Pete Regan, Fred Smale and Matt Smale.
The hosts did not really have a lot of pressure in Exeter’s half in a scrappy first period, but they did find their form after the interval and did produce some good tries.
Fred Smale got a second straight after the break and then further touch-downs followed from Dan Bristow, James Glasson, Corbin Turner, Matt Smale, Henry Matthews and Shaughn Lewis, with the two Smales and Regan all chipping in with conversions.
Exeter Athletic, who have had to totally rebuild their side over the summer after losing players to higher league Topsham and Exeter Saracens, did have some good moments and scored a fine try midway through the second half through winger Luke Fiddes, which Harrison Greenslade converted.
New OPMs head coach Andy Williams was happy with what he saw, particularly second half, but he is not getting carried away.
“As I have said before, it is always going to take time to adjust to how we want to play this year,” said Williams.
“We had a players’ meeting at the start of the year and they said what they wanted to do and all we have tried to do is put things in place to enable us to play the rugby we did in the last 25 minutes.
“Fair play to Exeter, they stuck at it and scored a good try.
“For us there’s still a lot to work on, but it is pleasing and the boys deserved to have a good night and start again on Tuesday.”
On claiming such a big win in their first match, Williams said: “I think it could be a blessing and a curse. Other teams are going to look at that, but we might not have the rub of the green next time. We’ll just see what happens. We are just looking forward to the rest of the season.”
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