Veor 13, Honiton 40 Honiton made light of their final long-trip of the season as they won handsomely in Cornwall with Ollie Rice taking the plaudits for his hat-trick of tries.

Fielding one or two changes they visited basement side Veor, and on a difficult surface with the elements also throwing driving rain and wind, the fixture was a potential banana skin for the Lacemen.

As predicted, Honiton did not start particularly well and struggled with their continuity and, when in possession, there were several unenforced errors with the ball being spilled in the difficult conditions!

However, it was soon evident that Honiton had the superior skill levels and it was no surprise when they opened the scoring with Ollie Rice crossing for the first converted try.

At that stage it looked all the way as if Honiton would win comfortably as both the line out and scrum crews were dominant. Adam Thompson kicked a penalty and dotted down for a try leaving the Lacemen in the driving seat 25 minutes into the contest.

Prop Isaac Dalton got the final score of the half after some good hands from his colleagues and with the home side kicking a penalty, Honiton were comfortably 20-3 up by half time.

Faced with a strong wind and the intermittent rain after the break the Lacemen would have been excused had they struggle in many areas. However, if anything they improved on their first half performance and good breaks kept making in-roads. It was Rice who once again began the half’s scoring as he crossed out wide.

The home side were having a torrid time and had to revert to uncontested scrums as they ran out of front row troops. This rule enabled the home side to have a stable scrum near to Honiton line and the break resulted in a try, but this was merely a blip in the Honiton performance and they responded immediately with a slick move finished of well by James Coutes. Thompson added a penalty to Honiton’s tally leaving the final word to that man Rice as he cross for his hat-trick try to seal a richly deserved success.

This weekend sees the club stage Vice Presidents Day as the Lacemen host Newquay.