Honiton first fifteen’s woes continued with their long trip down in to Cornwall to play Penryn. The home side are currently second in the division and with Honiton struggling at the moment it was always going to be a tough ask to get any kind of a result and yet again, a late cry off in two key position caused all sorts of problems as the coaching staff tried to find replacements at very short notice and frankly at this level is just not acceptable.

Despite the problems Honiton made a fist of things and started brightly but the home side had a strong set of backs who looked sharp and with Honiton maybe a little guilty of kicking away possession to much they were able to run in several tries and by 25 minutes they’d secured the bonus point and Honiton were hanging on. By half time Honiton were 31-0 down and having not visited the home sides 22 it was clear to see the dominance of the home side.

The second half saw Honiton show some resolve and when they kept the ball they looked good. There were errors with handling and of course the top flight opposition punished the Lacemen.

The final score was 57-0 but to be fair it wasn’t all doom and despair and the score didn’t reflect Honiton’s contribution to the over all game. Despite being second in the backs department upfront they did compete well. Josh Rice was picked out for being at his combative best but man of the match went to Matt Baily who put in an a good 80 minute shift at the coal face. Cut out the handling errors and pay more attention to looking after the ball and things can only get better.

This weekend sees a visit from Penzance and with a fair wind and some good town support Honiton could sneak a result.