Honours even in the mud.

Topsham 2nd XV kicked off their new year fixtures with the tricky (and often sticky) trip up to South Molton II.

Neither the pitch nor the opposition failed to meet expectations as the game proved to be hard fought, played on a pitch which resembled chocolate pudding poaching in water fragranced by farmyard animals!

In a game which provided little of noteworthy report, S.Molton had the better of the first half and converted their one scoring opportunity to lead 5-0 at halftime, a reasonable return for Topsham's fine defensive effort.

The second half proved the mirror opposite of the first with Tops very much in the ascendancy through some good solid defensive work. The scored were levelled with only a couple minutes to go following a period of sustained pressure from the Topsham pack. Skipper Olly Scott broke from the back of a scrum, flicked the ball up to scrum-half Robert Busby who in turned picked out Tony Davies, on a great running line to crash over the try line.

This was pretty much the entire tale of the game as it ended in a 5-5 draw.

Big mentions go to Matt Barrett for his senior debut for the club, to stand-in prop Craig Hall and fellow prop Bryn Jones for solid front row displays.

Man of the match is awarded to Mike James for a hard aggressive presence which, at times, almost turned into all out assault. Love it- Top man!