Honiton RFC 1st XV romped to a fine 46-21 win over Salcombe.

Honiton RFC 1st XV romped to a fine 46-21 win over Salcombe. The Lacemen were on fire in the first 20 minutes and blew their opposition apart with some fine attacking rugby. The bright, dry day in south Devon made conditions ideal for running rugby and the away side scored seven tries. Honiton received the kick and soon made their way into the opposition half. Barrett and Sampson made yards before the forwards worked their way up the left. As play transcended on to the 22 Salcombe were penalised and Guilbert put the visitors ahead with less than three minutes on the clock. Again the Lacemen attacked from the kick off, this time breaking through the centre and feeding Hannay who sprinted clear to score under the posts for a converted try. Honiton were stretching the Fishermen at every opportunity, using the pace of the back division to move around the home side's large pack. There were less than ten minutes on the clock when Dobson gathered a loose Salcombe pass to score from 60 yards. The conversion held up in the wind but Honiton had done the damage. Good work up the right from Dobson and Garmen set up a ruck and provided room for Locke out to the left. He barraged through on the 22 and dotted down under the posts. The extras were added before Sampson broke clear off an inside ball from a central ruck for another converted score. With the score at 29-0 at half time the hard graft had been done, and complacency would be the Lacemen's only real opponent. The first ten minutes of the second half were poor and allowed Salcombe's robust runners to to cross under the posts for a converted score. Honiton rallied immediately and moved downfield. Guilbert missed a penalty before Kenny, who had a good game, used his skill to evade the number eight en route to the corner flag for an unconverted score. Salcombe hit back, probing the ball into the corners which forced the Lacemen to conceded a couple of five yard scrums. The second provided good ball for the back division and the outside centre offloaded in the tackle to the open side who scored a converted try. Honiton responded with a Hannay try, this time from a charge down, before conceding another score. In the last period of the game Hannay completed his hat-trick, handing off two defenders before crashing over under the posts for a converted score to complete a very satisfactory afternoon.