On a sunny afternoon at Allhallows, Honiton seconds hosted a strong Buckfastleigh Ramblers 1st XV in a friendly game, losing out 38-5. The laceman were due to host Torquay in a merit table game, however the call came in midweek that they were unable to travel, which was very disappointing especially as Honiton travelled their earlier in the season and took a bit of a kicking against a suspect third team. So with a ‘W’ already in the bag, the ramblers came down for their annual game.

Playing down the slope, the laceman quickly found out that they were up against a well organised team. The first 20 mins was an even affair but some illdispilnce from the laceman allowed some early penalties too be slotted by the visitors 10, who controlled his team all day, to make the score 6-0. The ramblers then scored two quick tries, one of which was converted to make it 18-0. Knowing they had to make advantage of the slope, some illdiscipline from the visitors allowed some good phase play and Phil Bird crashed over to get Honiton back into the game at half time.

The second half kicked off, and similar to the first half it was tit for tat for the first 15 minutes or so. Unfortunately for Honiton, Buckfastleigh used their power to score two quick tries, and then with a couple of injuries, the laceman couldn’t find a way back into the game. Buckfastleigh scored one final try to leave it at 38-5.

Unfortunately this ended the seconds unbeaten run, but as has been the case all season, the games which have been arranged that would allow Honiton to try out a few different things and play against some slightly lower teams have not been fulfilled by the opposition, so to get a game they often have to end up playing first XV teams in a higher league. Credit must go to the players for sticking at it and giving a good account of themselves each week.