It’s been a long wait, but the Lacemen Colts finally shrugged off rivals Barnstaple, defeating them 29-17, writes Paz Parratt.

The North Devon side have consistently been Honiton’s bogey side and, during the course of previous contests, Honiton have always ended up second best, but this weekend the tides were well and truly turned.

The young Lacemen managed to find early gaps in the Barum defence and Charlie Wright opened the scoring with a try.

Confidence grew and Ross Oaten burst through and then converted his own try to make it 12-0.

Barum came back well with a converted try, but Honiton quickly got back onto the front foot and the ball was worked well down the slope and, from a ruck, Marcus Street crashed the white wash to claim his debut try. Oaten converted and the home side took a 19-7 lead into the interval.

A half-time team talk centred o the need for more of the same. After the break Barum struck first with an unconverted try, but Honiton were soon back in the and good support play ended with Will Counsell finding space to whittle his way through and dot down to make it 24-12.

Barum now needed two converted tries to deny the young Lacemen, but Honiton stood firm and, with the forwards winning a number of scrums against the head, there was no way back for the visitors.

Will Tyers was quick off the mark and managed to breach the defensive line and with a full tank of gas run in wide to close the Lacemens scoring. With the clock ticking away Barums forwards were dispatched and with a constant onslaught from the visitors the home side’s line was eventually crossed to earn them a consolation try.

With a couple of minutes left Honiton slowed the game and played the ball close through to the final whistle.

The Honiton Man of the Match award went to Cody Northcott whose turn over ball and hooking skills set him aside from the rest.