Topsham earn 3 points away at Honiton

This was a competitive game, in which no-one had the upper hand for long, leaving neither side wholly satisfied with their afternoon.

We played with wind and slope in the first half but failed to capitalise as much as we should have done. The scrums again provided a solid platform, and despite an early miss at goal, our continued linespeed pressure was rewarded with an early try for Lewis Trickey after a text-book charge down. However, some silly and unnecessary penalties kept Honiton in the game.

As we settled into more regular play, George York and Simon Westwood carrying effectively, we earnt a series of penalties, with one ultimately slotted by Luke Edwardson. Shortly before half time we profited from one of several lineout overthrows and winger Sam Wyatt-Haines crossed in the corner. 6-13 up at half time, but with work to do.

Early in the 2nd half Honiton fought well with the slope in their favour and after some concerted effort scored through their forwards under the posts. 15-13.

As we got back into our rhythm, we earnt the territorial advantage little by little and went up 15-20 after some tight phases - Rupert Stanning nudging over. Frustratingly, we quickly handed back Honiton the momentum and they countered with a well-finished break on the right. 20-20. Rather than rely on our sytems, we made too many consecutive errors, in particular at the rucks, and Honiton took advantage of some unplanned exits and tired Topsham tackling and crashed over to take the lead 25-20.

We reacted well and pushed up the slope phase by phase for Nigel Reardon to cross in the corner bur he couldn't make the conversion easy enough. Luke Edwardson almost carved his way upfield in the last play of the game, but was denied further progress after eleven side-steps and we couldn't capitalise on the opportunity.

Game ended 25-25, Topsham 3 points, Honiton 2.