Honiton Seconds 22 - Crediton Thirds 28
ANOTHER bonus point win against tough opposition has kept the Crediton Thirds at the top of the Devon Merit Table.
As always, fixtures with Honiton Seconds are tough encounters and this one was no exception.
It was an evenly contested game with both sides throwing the kitchen sink at each other and defences were holding until the Thirds broke the deadlock.
It was Matt Woods, playing flyhalf for the first time since South African school rugby a few years ago, broke through several defenders to score under the posts.Ben Wallis, in his first senior game slotting the extras.
Honiton responded and despite our strong defence in midfield forcing them out wide, they managed to unleash their very pacy winger to run in under the posts, the conversion levelled the score.
After a bit of ill-discipline on our part Honiton took a penalty kick at goal to go three points ahead at the interval!
We started the second half strongly, with skipper and No8 Ben Rodd catching the kickoff and storming through a number of defenders and getting us up the slope, with the rest of the team in support.
Richard Gray made an impact immediately, coming off the bench and barging his way 10 metres through the defence to score. With the conversion unsuccessful we held a 12-10 lead.
Captain Ben Rodd chose to go for posts when awarded a penalty and Wallis calmly stepped up to land the three points. Honiton then fought back and pressure in our “22” was rewarded with another try to retake the lead.
A change of tactic saw the thirds play a more attacking game with the ball going through the hands, moving the home defence around as we went from side to side and we started putting the ball through a number of hands moving the defence from side to side before creating an opportunity for the evergreen Bradley Baker to run a superb line cutting through the defence like a hot knife through butter to score!
The conversion missed its target but when we were awarded another penalty, Wallis added three more points.
Shortly after it was Joe Wreford’s turn to take on the defence making many yards before offloading to Paddy Elworthy who made light work of three defenders to score a beautiful try in the corner!
Honiton were still not done and caught us napping to score under the posts in the last play of the game!
From one to 19, the boys put a massive shift in and had the experience and knowledge to change the game and grind out a well deserved win.
We wish Honiton all the best for the rest of the season and look forward to seeing them at Blagdon.
The result keeps the Thirds firmly at the top of the Devon Merit Table and on Saturday they host one of their nearest challengers, Barnstaple Thirds – now that should be a game worth watching.
Jon Gurzynski