Honiton 1st XV 53, Newquay Hornets 7

Honiton duly dispatched another Cornish opposition in Newquay Hornets at the Allhallows on Saturday. This 53-7 score line keeps them top of the pile and, despite expecting it to be a close encounter, given the narrow victory in the corresponding away fixture earlier in the season, it was really one way traffic as far as the score line goes, writes Jerry Rice.

The recent dry weather certainly suits Honiton’s style of play and, opting to go up the Allhallows field in the first half, they were quickly in to top gear with the ball being swung from side to side. Andy Canniford got the scoring started when he exploited some poor defence and an over lap to touch down out wide. Glen Channing added the extras. Channing then knocked over two long range penalties to have Honiton 13 up in as many minutes.

The one way traffic continued as influential centre Josh Barrett rounded several would be tacklers to dot down under the posts. With the damage done and being ever so slightly critical, Honiton were guilty of wasting several scoring opportunities with careless last touches, yet despite not scoring they were really in complete control. The deadlock was broken just before half time when Honiton’s dominant forwards drove the scrum over the line and skipper Josh Rice was last up with the ball. Channing duly kicked the conversion to give him a five out of five for the half and Honiton were an unassailable 27-0 up at the turn around.

With the slope advantage Honiton were in no mood to be charitable and next on the score sheet was player coach Channing again as he barged over from close range to secure the bonus point for the fourth try of the day. To be fair Newquay did offer some stout resistance but they could not stem the tide and Louis Lane, Ollie Hyland and Callum Hill all crossed for well worked team tries. Ollie Cave took over the kicking duties and kick three goals.

Whilst this was a very good all round team performance Honiton will kick themselves about not producing a complete “shut out” and Hornets crossed for a late consolation try.

Still when all said and done it was a good win, pretty to watch and with five more games to go Honiton remain in the driving seat.