South West 1 West

North Petherton 32, Okehampton 29

NORTH Petherton claimed their best result of the season so far as they toppled leaders Okehampton in a terrific match at Beggars Brook on Saturday.

Pethy started on top and went in front inside two minutes.

From the kick off, the ball was stolen off the Okehampton catcher by Arron Gibbs - he passed to Sam Williams, who flipped the ball to Aiden Cotton to skip through a mass of defenders and touch the ball down.

Jack Coles scored Pethy’s second before Cotton went over again to take the hosts into a 22-10 half-time lead, all Okehampton’s points having been scored by Kieran Lee.

The leaders refused to die down and quickly showed why they are top of the table as tries from Karl Pearce and Ryan Lee took them right back into the game at 22-22.

The next try would be decisive and it was North Petherton who scored it, as Gibbs went over for a try which Jack Rees converted.

Rees added a penalty to stretch Pethy’s lead beyond a converted try, which proved pivotal as Ryan Lee went over in the final minute and his twin brother Kieran added the extras to earn a losing bonus point for the leaders.

This was an excellent performance and result by North Petherton, who climb to seventh in the table.

They will look to back it up on Saturday as they make the trip to Cornwall to face St Ives, who sit two places above Pethy.