A win at last

At last! Honiton have recorded their first win and what a way to do it. The list of 11 first team injuries and the fact that the visitors Old Public Oaks occupied third place in the league, on the back of a five match winning streak did, if honest, mean the faithful supporters were not that optimistic of getting anything out of the game.

With the monsoons early in the week a distant memory it was a perfect day for rugby. The Lacemen elected to play up the Allhallows slope and they started brightly with purposeful attacks. The oppositions stood firm and it was “even Stevens” for the first quarter and in fact the first half. Honiton’s ten, Ollie Cave broke the deadlock on the 15 minute mark with a well struck penalty. The visitors matched that on twenty minutes with one of their own and they did look menacing, as their Chunky fly half spun passes out wide. Honiton’s defence stood frim and there were some excellent tackles that thwarted there wide men.

Turning round at 3-3 it was clear it was going to be “nip and tuck” and a close game but with the slope advantage Honiton started to get the upper hand. The scrum worked hard all game and as the half went on they were shunting the heavier pack around, so much so, that on the twenty minute mark the opposition had to go to "uncontested" in the scrums as they ran out of fit front row players. This usually kills any advantage a side has in terms of power but the new ruling of having to drop a player if you do opt for this, helped Honiton. Cave added two penalties to given the Ton clear water at 9-3 but back bounced Oakes with a well struck penalty and the final ten minutes were nerve racking to say the least but Honiton did have the upper hand and they pressed. They were unlucky not to score when influential number 8 Josh Rice was denied by a last ditch tackle. The relief when the final whistle went was clear to see but it was a win which was so important for moral!

To be fair Honiton deserved the win and despite the narrow 9-6 score line to the neutral you would have pick Honiton as the better side on the day. The pack to a man, worked hard to dominate through out and the coal face crew of Logan, Irish and Baily did a job on their opposite numbers. Stand in second row Tom Churchward, was well looked after by his buddy Louie Lane but was out on his feet at the end, having given his all for the team. The backs, who were well marshalled by Cave looked good with ball in hand but the man of the match award went to Tom Irish who was picked out for all his hard work in an 80 minute shift. Yes, there were mistakes and Honiton did spill the ball which put pressure on them and the line outs spluttered a bit but when you pull off a win against all the odds you can gloss over the imperfections for the day and have a smile for once. This win takes Honiton off the bottom of the table and gives a chink of light in the battle to avoid relegation.

Next week it’s back down to earth when Pricey takes his men away for another tough fixture at second placed Saltash.