Sat 7 Mar 2020
Anybody who rose from their bed early on Sunday morning and purchased a copy of the Sunday Independent could be forgiven, after reading the report of Saturday’s clash between Honiton and Kingsbridge, for thinking that the home side had achieved a magnificent victory against the odds by humbling a team several places above them in the league.
The home side did inflict a heavy defeat on Kingsbridge but what the report didn’t mention was the make up of the visitors team.
Shorn of seven regular first team players, very influential ones at that, the Blue and White team that took the field was barely recognisable from the previous few games.
It says a lot for the club loyalty of several players that they managed to field a front row. Sam Darke agreed to hook and the evergreen Dave ‘Doove’ Stephens filled in as prop. Not sure how long ago he had played there but the club owes him a debt of gratitude for stepping in.
Kingsbridge played downhill into strong wind and it soon became apparent the lack of power in their pack ws going to make it a very difficult afternoon for them. A penalty by the home side gave them an early lead and this was soon followed by a converted try to make it 10-0 to Honiton.
Try as they might Kingsbridge could not put their opponents under any significant pressure. Several chances to get on the scoreboard were lost as passes went astray. The home side then scored again just before half time to give them a 17-0 lead.
Honiton started the second half strongly and were soon pushing Kingsbridge back deep into their 22 where an unconverted try resulted. Kingsbridge then showed what they were capable of when James Oggelsby touched down after good work new father Ali Hamilton and centre Ben Glover.
Any lingering hopes of a comeback were soon extinguished however by two Honiton converted tries to make the score 34-5.
They sy that out of adversity comes opportunity and that certainly was the case for Chris Canevali who was drafted into the back row when young Ryan Gotch got a knock on the head. He showed his appetite for the physical aspect of the game with some big tackles and several good carries were rewarded when he burst through to score Kingsbridge’s second try which was converted by fly half Ben Newman with an excellent kick from the touchline.
At 34-12 the gap had closed a little but unfortunately Honiton scored soon after the restart and a converted try made it 41-12.
Many teams could have thrown the towel in but the Kingsbridge boys are are never going to do that and they surged back up towards the Honiton line and after some good work by the forwards, Greg Parrott crashed over. With the conversion missed the final score of 41-17 was a faor reflection on the game.
Not a great day at the office for the Blue and Whites but without a strong pack life is difficult in this league. Hopefully the pack will be strengthened for the visit of Penryn in two weeks time. They will need to be.
