Honiton 2nds edged out in midweek gam eat Teignmouth

Teignmouth 15, Honiton 8 On a nice fresh Wednesday evening, Honiton 2nd XV travelled down to Teignmouth for a second team merit fixture, and narrowly lost out 15-8, writes Tom Churchward

Both teams fielded strong sides and it was clear from the off that it was going to be a physical and fast paced game.

Disappointingly, the home side advised that they did not have a front row, which rather bemused the Lacemen, so the game went to uncontested scrums from the start which neutralised the threat of the Lacemens consistently solid scrum.

Honiton were slow out of the blocks and conceded an early try after some strong running from the home team saw them cross over.

However, Honiton got themselves back in the game and some continued vocal ill-discipline from the Teign’s saw several penalties for the Lacemen to work their way up the field. From one, the decision was wisely made to kick for posts and Carnall slotted over.

The remainder of the half was a very physical encounter with both teams playing some good rugby in a game of high standard, but neither defence could be breached leaving the half time score 5-3 to the home side.

Honiton kicked off the second half and retained the ball, using some good phases to get close to the line before Louie Lane crossed over on the blindside to give Honiton a 8-5 lead. The conversion was missed.

The home response was good and they went on to control the remainder of the contest. Honiton’s impressive defence held strong under many attacks, but was breached twice out wide to put the Teign’s 15-8 up.

Knowing that a converted try would secure a draw, the Lacemen dominated the final five minutes and several penalties were played from hand with good yards being made.

Unfortunately, a knock-on saw the final whistle blown and Honiton left the romantic riverside pitch with a narrow loss and a few war wounds to show for it!