Match report by Dave Vallender
U13’s Honiton v Somerton

Honiton made the return trip to Somerton after their meeting a couple of weeks ago. Despite missing a couple of key players, Honiton still fielded a strong side and, with things starting to gel more each week, they arrived ready and raring to go.

Honiton started brightly, putting together some good phases. Unfortunately, the “slightly damp” weather made handling tricky, and Somerton’s impressive defence kept them out. Somerton threatened to break away a few times before eventually finding space down the wing to open the scoring.

That seemed to spark Honiton into action. Strong runs from Jack, Noah, and Wilson created space for Freddy to dive over for the levelling try. More pressure followed, and Honiton went close a couple of times before scoring again just before half-time.

Defensively, Honiton were still hanging on by their fingertips at moments, and with Somerton disrupting the rucks, continuity in attack was difficult. It made for a very entertaining game, even if you had to feel for Isaac at scrum half!

After the break the pace slowed, and Honiton tightened things up, using some of their bigger runners to make ground. This drew Somerton’s defence in and opened space out wide, which Noah took full advantage of with an excellent try.

Then came the best move of the match: superb offloading, great passing, and playing the ball out of the tackle released Charlie B to score, only for the try to be disallowed after he unknowingly ran past the poorly marked try-line and over the dead-ball area!

Honiton kept pushing, though. Another strong carry from Jack and some neat handling set up a try for Wilson. Soon after, they scored again following some brilliant play from Freddy, who shaped to pass, dummied, burst through the gap, drew the remaining defenders, and released Noah to finish for another well-worked try.

Honiton continued to threaten and nearly scored again, but Somerton rallied late and deservedly had the final say with the last try of the game.

Overall, it was another real step forward for this Honiton side, who claimed a good win against a well-organised opponent. Although rucking and handling still need work, the progress is clear. There were strong performances right across the board: powerful running from Wilson and Jack, great contact work from Thomas and Sam H, pace and power from Noah L, good running from Charlie J, Henry, James, and Dom, Noah O getting to grips with the game, and Isaac battling hard at scrum half in very tough conditions.

After some discussion, player of the match went to Charlie B for an excellent all-round performance, with Freddie as runner-up.

With a bit of fine-tuning at training this week, hopefully Honiton can finish the year on a high in their final game against Plymouth Argum next weekend. Some of the players are also undergoing specialist training to see if anyone can finally beat Wilson in the post-match celebration…