Honiton welcomed Withycombe to Allhallows bathed in early spring sunshine, looking to put the record straight following a narrow defeat earlier in the reverse fixture.

Ton started brightly, with solid defence and kick returns making the visitors do all the work. This pressure turned into penalties which took ton close, only a stolen lineout saving by them from what seemed an inevitable lead.

One of many clearance kicks was returned with yards from Ollie Rice and Kidson then releasing Leconte to turn down the queue of potential try scorers but retain the ball just short of the line. Recycled ball led to Laird being held up cries of “by who” from the crowd went unanswered. The resulting drop out brought the first try, Josh Rice ran it back, found House who fed Ollie Rice. 5-0 Ton, with the conversion fading wide.

More pressure from Ton at the scrum (which functioned well all day) and subsequent breakdown resulted in a long range penalty attempt from Phillips, which sadly also missed the uprights. A phases later and a good chop and turnover combination from Price and Rice gave another opportunity which Philips took advantage of for 8-0 to Ton.

It was only handling errors which allowed the visitors back into the game; a turnover lineout gave a brief reprieve but the kick missed touch and from the return Withy were awarded a penalty. Kicked to make it 8-3.

Honiton were in control and two further tries followed in quick succession, a Coutts break found Phillips, before Madge bundled his way over. This was followed by a great solo effort from Goodman, taking the ball in space off a set backs play to run in from the half way line with so much pace his hamstring let go! These scores, alongside a penalty from the visitors made it 18-6 at half time.

A slow start to the second half was evenly contested, with errors being the main savour for Withy. The deadlock was broken with Darnie making a trademark dominant hit for Rice to get over the ball and secure the turnover. From the resulting lineout, good hands from House, Madge, Lane and Cooke moved the ball from touchline to touch line with Phillips on the end to touchdown and convert. 23-6

Some excellent forwards interplay between Rice, Parratt and Price, created space for Cooke to dart over and extend the lead to
28-6. At this point Ton were dominating the contact area and reduced the error rate to feel comfortable with and without possession.

Good lineout defence through a Guilbert sack and pack turnover kept Withy try-less and Ton built on the momentum to run in two more scores. Kidson the benefactor of a set play that released Rice into space, and another back row combination between Rice and Price took the final score to 42-6.