Ivybridge 54, Honiton 1st XV 11

After last week’s hearty performance against high flying Torquay, Honiton were on the road again to face mid table Ivybridge and were hopeful of delivering another rousing performance.

Disappointingly, last week’s game had taken its toll on Honiton’s stocks and with the injury list mounting and a very small squad it was always going to be tough to secure any kind of result but the Lacemen were confident. Unfortunately, with only 10 minutes ticked off, Honiton were reeling at 17 down.

The penalty count and ill-discipline mounted and it’s interesting to note that the first mistake and penalty given away by the Bridgers was after 15 minutes of play. Meadows slotted this and added a second on 25 minutes but the moorlanders were in no mood not to capitalise on gifted opportunities and any glimmer of hope for their visitors was clearly over by half time, with Honiton out for the count at 32-6.

Fair to say weather conditions were very poor so handling was difficult, but it was the same for both sides and the tries kept coming as Honiton struggled to get any meaningful possession.

If there was any bright spot on a dark day it was the last quarter when Honiton showed some spark and they managed a brace of tries following periods of patient build up. Isaac Dalton and George Meadows where the ones who both crossed the white wash but they were both just consolation only.

The final score was 54-18 and it will be a day to forget. Player reflection needs to be deep this week as Honiton are clearly staring down the barrel of a hasty return to Devon and Cornwall league rugby. This will be a shame as several worked very hard to achieve this lofty “punching above their weight” status and things don’t look good. Thanks must go to Dan Garman and young Matt (Bill)l Baily who both stepped in at the last moment to cover late cry offs.

Honiton 2nd XV 25, Totnes 15

Honiton 2nd XV put in a solid performance on Saturday to see off their Totnes counterparts with a 25-15 victory.

Kicking off up the slope, the Lacemen looked dangerous from the off with ball in hand and their big strike runners were causing damage. This allowed Honiton to work their way up the pitch and some powerful running by Matt Olive saw him cross over for an unconverted try. This play was repeated in exactly the same area about 10 minutes later, but this time Ian Floyd crashed his way over, again unconverted.

In control at this point, Honiton span the ball wide several times and on one occasion Chris Sampson used his experience to run in a well scored try, although he was not having the best of times with the boot and again missed the conversion.

Totnes got themselves back into it and some good play from them saw a Honiton infringement punished with three points. Just before half time Honiton used their dominant pack to make yards and after some good work by the evergreen scrum half Woolacott, Tom Churchward ran over for an unconverted try.

Honiton went into the break confident that a 20-3 scoreline could be extended, especially going down the slope. They started where they left off with some good ball outwide allowing Dave Wellington to finish in the corner. Honiton took the opportunity to rotate players but the large shift in personnel seemed to halt the momentum and Totnes ran in two good tries, one of which was converted.

Honiton upped their game and saw out the remaining minutes to leave the final score at 25-15. This was a pleasing performance from the laceman who looked in control for the majority of the game, which maybe the scoreline does not suggest.

Next week sees a trip over to the University to face one of their teams in a friendly.