What was billed as the big game certainly lived up to expectation with a seriously competitive game on show.
Torquay, unbeaten so far, arrived with a sizable squad, and kicked off down the slope. The early exchanges were fairly even, with Honiton having more of the ball and working their way into the oppositions 22 on several occasions with yards from Lane and Rice, but came away point-less.
Torquay showed some early signs of what would ultimately be the difference between the sides, getting the ball into the wide channels and in particular their number 14. Only strong tackles from Rice and Coutts preventing early scores.
Both set pieces worked well all day, Madge and Parratt providing a solid base, giving a narrow advantage in both, but the visitors defence was highly organised, rarely over-committing numbers at the breakdown. Twenty minutes in, still scoreless, Honiton built some pressure with a number of penalties at the breakdown, but mistakes allowed Torquay to clear.
The first points went to the visitors, a forward pass led to scrum on half way, a backs move created space for the Torquay 14 to wrap around and break the defensive line. The covering defence couldn’t recover and Torquay went 0-5 up.
Before half time, Torquay pressed hard for more points. Multiple phases of attack were combated with strong tackles with Lang, Rice and Price all making big hits and strong rucking forced a knock on at the breakdown. Unfortunately from the resulting scrum, Ton failed to find touch and the visitors came again, strong running, and this time spreading the ball to score in the corner. 0-10 at half time didn’t really reflect the balance of the game in possession and set piece, but executing in the final third was the difference.
The second half started well, but Honiton knew they had to be the next to score. Sadly it wasn’t the case, Torquay made ground on the outside channel, carried strongly in midfield and found space again on the far side, creating a one on one which the winger came out on top. 0-17
Honiton grew back into the game at this point, again putting up solid defence, Kidson recovering kicks through well, and Phillips securing the 13 channel. Two penalties given away by Torquay were this time in kickable positions and Phillips slotted both. 6-17 and game on.
Honiton pressed their advantage at scrum time further, building strong attacks to break the gain line, however the visitors cover defence was very strong on the rare occasion first tackles were missed.
As the need for tries became more important, Honiton tried a backs move and the ball was spilt, allowing Torquay to transfer the ball in two good passes to their winger who finished under the posts, 6-22
That’s how it finished, a strong performance matching a very strong team in most aspects of the game. The difference being the ability for the visitors to get over the line and convert pressure to points. If anything a compliment to Torquay, given all that was thrown at them.