Honiton RFC turned on the second-half style to race away with a 38-16 victory at home to a plucky North Tawton outfit.

Playing down the slope, the Ton stated brightly, only to be penalised at the breakdown just shy of the line. North Tawton responded with a break up field and, after another home side infringement, a fine penalty kick gave the visitors a 0-3 lead.

North Tawton added another penalty after 18 minutes to give them a 0-6 lead, The away side were reduced to fourteen men for a deliberate knock on by their number eleven but it was then Honiton penalised for back chatting and valuable ground was lost.

The Ton finally made their advantage pay and skipper Johnny House forced his way over, Jake Smith converted to give Honiton the lead for the first time in the game, 7-6 after 34 minutes. Honiton conceded yet another penalty and North Tawton again added three points to retake the lead 7-9.

They couldn’t hold on to the advantage before the break, as Ben Phillips finished off a fine break to score wide left. Jake Smith added an impressive conversion, 14-9 at half-time for the Ton. Honiton were again on the wrong side of the referee’s whistle after the restart, this time the North Tawton kicker was wide.

Honiton were playing the better rugby but mistakes and close decisions were preventing them advancing the scoreboard. This changed when skipper House was on the end of some good play to finish out wide, Smith couldn’t add the extras, 19-9. North Tawton responded immediately with a converted try of their own, 19-16

Ben Spence scored the next try of the game from a line-out close to the line after a North Tawton penalty. Smith converted, 26-16. Things then started to click for the Ton and Ben Kidson finished well wide left after more good play from the home side, conversion missed, 31-16

The game was stopped after a high tackle on Dom Lovesey resulted in him having to leave the field with a shoulder injury. After the game restarted, Honiton continued to dominate and capping a solid game,  James Coutts Tucker finished the scoring with a fine finish to score left of the posts, Smith converted for a 38-16 victory.

Midweek Herald: