Honiton 12 - 38 Exmouth

A changed 15 lined up to face Honiton on Sunday with several regulars unavailable or rested, but none the less after a nervy first half, the Exmouth U 13s produced a convincing 12 – 38 victory.

The Cockles were first to get some points on the board with an unconverted try by Captain for the Day, Harry Neath Rogers. This was followed by a one from Thomas Preece. He was able to receive a fine pass out of a ruck from Josh Cressall after Scrum half Ollie Jones had been tackled and buried under a pile of bodies. This time the try was successfully converted by Eddie Ford.

Occasionally the absence of some regular players and others being played in new positions showed and Honiton found some gaps, this allowed Honiton to score two converted tries, one each side of half time.

The Cockles were being constantly penalised for various infringements which caused frustration and disrupted the flow of the game. However their work rate was greater and the Cockles maintained a better shape which stifled most of what their hosts had to offer. Consequently Exmouth were able to run in four tries in the second period two from Zac Tucker and one each from Vinnie & Harry Neath Rogers. Ford successfully kicked three out of the four tries.

Although the Exmouth Lads felt some of the penalties awarded against them were harsh the number of infringements is something they will have to work on in training and correct.

Ollie Jones had a good game at scrum half as did James Oldbury and Elliot Emmott on each wing, Ollie Cowley carried well in open play and Zac Tucker coming on at flanker for the injured Owen Tidball demonstrated some pace and flair. With Jones at Scrum half Josh Cressall started at Fly half, replaced at half time by Stewart Masters who played some creative rugby and made some good line breaks in his first opportunity in this position.