The much-anticipated Devon cup semi-final clash of the county’s two unbeaten under-14 sides took place at Allhallows on Sunday and a large crowd braved the appalling conditions to watch what was a very entertaining game of high quality.

Kingsbridge, brimming with county and representative players, elected to play up the slope and, crucially, they were against the strong wind and driving rain.

Despite the conditions, and to the collective credit of both sides, they did try to play open rugby and things were pretty even for the first quarter. However, as the half went on, it was clear the visitors have worked hard on unit skills and their counter rucking was exceptional.

The Kings broke the deadlock with a well-worked try in the top left hand corner and, to the amazement of all, the goal kicker slotted the conversion from the touch line into the driving wind!

Things remained nip and tuck with neither side giving an inch and the half finished 7-0 in the visitors’ favour.

The problem was that, after the break, Kingsbridge had the use of the elements and they turned the screw from the edge they had in the first half. They produced a second half performance of pure quality as they ran in four unanswered tries and, with an outstanding display of goal kicking, all conversions went over from wherever.

Whilst the Honiton boys must have been very disappointed, they stuck to the task well and were a credit to the club and, really, this game should have been the line up for the cup final.

For Honiton it will be a ‘lessons learnt’ experience and, it must be said, they were clearly not helped with a succession of injuries to some of the key players, but there was no argument with the final score of 35-0 and the visitors well- deserved their victory.

For the Honiton boys, the question is how they now react to this and a reality check does no one any harm.

Life’s like that though and it’s a case of pick yourselves up, dust yourselves off and start all over again!