--By Phil Oaten
Subject: match report Penryn away
Travailing to Cornwall for a game of rugby is hard at the best of times but throw in Storm Brian as well and the day turned into some what of an endurance test for all involved. For starters, leaving at 10am is always a chore but throw in the conditions and the drive down to Penryn was very interesting in it’s self as it swayed and got buffeted all the way down.
On arrival the horizontal rain and the wind careering in off the Cornish coast was something to behold but the game was on. Penryn won the toss and had a clear advantage as they opted to play with the gale, which was evident from the first kick that was no more than a nudge but it went miles down the park. Conversely for Honiton any clearance kicks went no where so unsurprisingly the Lacemen were on the back foot right from the opening minutes. They also conceded an early penalty in front of the posts and were 3 down in as many minutes. Despite this Honiton then got into the game with patient build ups but every time they coughed up the ball they were then pinned back with the help of Brian. Fortunately Honiton defended well and Penryn never really took full advantage of their territorial superiority . They had a player sin binned on the twenty minute mark but with yet another squalid shower rolling in Honiton could not take advantage of this and to be fair no one could really play rugby and throw ins at the line out actually went off at 45 angles and it seem pointless actually have them.
It what was horrendous conditions both teams tried to play rugby and Honiton hung in there and reached half time just three points down.
The second half was a carbon copy of the first with Honiton getting an early penalty kicked by Ollie Cave but with things pretty even Honiton then lost influential player Robert Price who received a red card for a miss timed tackle in the air and with very strict rules about this offence now. the ref had no real option but to send him off. This meant Honiton had to play the rest of the game with 14 men. Then as if not bad enough, the weather took a turn for the worse and for minutes both sets of players really struggled to handle the ball at all. Unfortunately for the Lacemen the penalty count against them took it’s toll and some how the Penryn kicker managed to slot two penalties the final one being kicked in the dying seconds of the game. This meant the home side won the lottery of a game by the slenderest of margins at 9-3 which meant Honiton did secure a losing bonus point.
It was a game that either side could have won but really the game was spoilt by the presence of Brian and several of the players said it was the worst conditions they have ever played in. This win sees Penryn take over the top slot in the league and Honiton are now on the back of two defeats. For me it must be said that the improvement in Honiton’s performances this year are very obvious but they do need to work on discipline and it was the penalty count that did for them on what was a tough day all round. Honiton’s man of the match went to Sam Coffee who plied his trade in the row well and he worked hard through out.
Honiton did have some thing to cheer about after the game though as they received the Tribute team of the month award for September and this meant there was a couple of crates of beer for the journey home.
Next week it’s a home game against Penzance and this should be a chance to get the wheels back on the waggon as they are in the bottom three at the moment