Honiton 2nd XV went down 48-12 when they hosted a strong Tiverton side in what was their final game of the season.

With the Mid Devon side’s 1st XV being without a match, this was always going to be a difficult afternoon for the Lacemen, and so it proved!

Honiton started the brighter of the two sides and opened the scoring with a Rob Ballard try followed by a Dan Garman conversion. However, the score sparked a fierce response from the visitors, who hit back to score four tries – two of them being converted – and Tivvy led 24-7 at the interval.

After the break, Honiton battled hard, but the opposition were ruthless at every opportunity and made Honiton pay for any errors.

Tivvy ran in another four tries, but Honiton did get a consolation score when Jonny Galling was bundled over by his forwards and Ballard kicked the extras, but the final score was disappointing for the home supporters.

Matt Broom, Robin Bennett and Jacob Rabjohns all contributed very well, but it was long-suffering captain James Foot who was awarded the Honiton Man of the Match award.

For the Honiton 2nd XV, this had been a torrid season, not helped by plenty of ‘call-offs’ by scheduled opposition sides while in many games – like this last one against Tiverton – coming up against strong opponents with a small player base has made life very difficult all-round and this is an area that the club and coaching staff are going to have to work on over the summer months.

If they are going to improve the club’s standing as whole, then there is a real need to develop a strong second team.