Honiton II XV went down 38-19 to Plymstock Albion Oaks at a wet and windy Allhallows, writes Gavin Churchill.

The two sides have not crossed paths before, but, as with most Plymouth sides, they were both physical and well drilled.

Playing down the slope, Honiton started brightly and held the early upper-hand up front, dominating the scrum, of which there were many on a wet day when handling errors were rife!

After a run of ill-discipline from the away side, Honiton continued to pile on the pressure at the scrum and they drove over the opposition’s try line for number-eight John Galling to dot over from the back.

Ben Webber kicked the conversion to make it 7-0. The Laceman looked good with ball in hand with the backs making some good yards, but as a team they seemed to become complacent thinking a win was on the cards and weren’t securing the ball cleanly enough.

After a period of pressure, the visitors slipped some poor tackling to level the scores.

After another quick score for the Oaks, Honiton responded and some good phase play by the forwards saw prop Phil Bird crash over from five-meters out for an unconverted try.

At this time it was tit-for-tat rugby, and the intensity had risen. Winger Brett Sellick was close to crossing over, but was cut down short and the Laceman were guilty of assuming he had scored and the ball was turned over. After some unsavoury tactics from the opposition prop, a minor fracas broke out and half time was called with the Laceman very much in the game.

It was a slow start that did the real damage for the Laceman as the Oaks used the ball well to cross over for a few early tries.

Unfortunately, one came from a clear infringement at the breakdown which the officials failed to spot, but the Laceman were guilty of not dealing with it at the time.

Still possessing some forward power, the Laceman used several good phases to get closer to the line and the evergreen Galling (now in his 40s) crossed over again to narrow the gap. With time running out, a blatant and deliberate knock-on was missed by the officials and the Oaks winger capitalised on this to run in under the posts in what was a frustrating series of events for the home team, and that concluded the scoring.

A disappointing result for the Laceman on what anther day could have been a win, but effort and grit could not be faulted.

This Saturday (November 7), the 2nd XV host Paignton at Allhallows.