Honiton playing another catch up league game notched up another five point win on Saturday. Playing at home this is now the third win on the trot and with a bonus point in each they are steering the ship away from the relegation zone.
This week’s guest were Penzance Pirates who sat one point lower than Honiton in the league standing which added a bit of spice to the game and with Honiton having to make several enforced changes from last selection it was set up as a tough encounter.
Playing down the Allhallows track Honiton started brightly and had the lions share of the possession and did everything right but score . However on the 15 minute mark good ball retention saw the ball released to Ben Webber to crash over and then converted his own score from a difficult angle. Honiton still kept the pressure on but a hamstring injury to Ben Small disrupted the general pattern of play and despite all the possession the Lacemen were unable to score and with five minutes to play the visitors scored an “against the run of play” unconverted try. Honiton responded well and sustained pressure from the home pack gave Jonnie Selway some room to dart in round the blind side and with Webber converting again Honiton turned round rather disappointingly only 12-5 up.
The second half continued in the same vain with Honiton holding the lions share of the possession and applying the pressure. They score two tries in quick succession around the 20 minutes mark through Ollie Hyland and James Coutes which was try of the game as the ball went through several hands allowing him to run in from the 10 metre line. Penzance showed some fight and score another try but when Adam Thompson scored again for the Lacemen the game was settled and with Webber kicking all the conversions Honiton ran out comfortable winners by 35-10 but it could have been more.
This was a workman like performance that did the job and the away trip to Falmouth next week will be a sterner test . There were some good performances from the Honiton players and veteran and club chairman Michael Huskin did a good job stepping in to help out at the coal face. Man of the match went to young Matt Baily who stepped up to the challenge of senior rugby with ease and clearly looked the part with some great defensive work in particular. Clearly one for the future!