Saturday we had a double home with the sun out yet again. The ones played OPM’s and having watched the warm up and then seen the two sides line up, I and others couldn’t help notice the size of the opposition.. they had some pretty big boys on show. We seemed to cope well with this and playing down the field in the first half we looked pretty impressive and whilst it was pretty nip n tuck for a while we looked in control and we scored several pretty good tries and turned round 31- 0 up and that’s normally enough to win, even if you have to play up hill in the second half. We added another try soon after the break and that made it 36-0. Then one of my “all season” bug bears raised its head again and it’s what I call “levelling up”. It just seems the refereeing at this level has an extra rule in that, if one side is dominant you have to help the losing side. There was penalty after penalty that went against us for seemingly no reason and this continued until they eventually scored. They scored again this time their lines man put his flag up for in touch but then took it down again and the guy who scored the try dropped the ball over the line which was seen by every one except the ref. I will be fair to the opposition they came back strongly in the second half and perhaps Honiton were a bit guilty of complacency but the cards did seem somewhat stacked…. Anyway we won 36-19 so… what am I moaning about.

For some reason second placed Devonport who were playing Torquay gave them a walk over but still played the game but with uncontested scrums, by doing this it meant they didn’t get the 5 point deduction for not turning up at all. I mention this because we are now only 7 points behind them with a game in hand. We have three games left and one of them is against Devonport at the Ton on a big sponsors day. It’s still up in the air as to whether two teams go up to the next division or one but if it is two we are right in the hunt for that second place spot.

Our twos were also at home playing a very strong Barnstaple third team and what a strong club this is as both their firsts and seconds are doing well in their divisions and we frankly got a bit of a kicking from their third string going down by 50 odd points. Hey ho.

Sunday yet another lovely day the 7’s and 8’s had good games at Chard and one of our 8’s coaches Dan Taylor was very impressed with the quality of the impressive performance.

Our 10s were a bit disappointed as they made mincemeat of their opposition and if anything it was tough day for our boys and girls trying to keep the standard high with very weak opposition. We lent 3 players and ended up lending 6 after 5 mins.

It was a similar story for the 11s who were very dominant as well. The 12’s game was cancelled with late notice as was the 13’s but they managed to get a game against a very strong Torquay side but despite losing they learnt a lot from the experience.

It was a bit of a sorry story all round from the Chard teams as they also cancelled our 14’s game but again James Vince the fixtures secretary managed to get them a replacement game against a strong Newton Abbot outfit who have only lost once all season. We did lose this one but only just and it was a good game in which we were very competitive throughout and the score could have been closer. The 15s played a large OPO’s outfit and again this was tough one which we came out on the wrong side of the scoreline.

As I promised myself I slouched on the sofa on Sunday afternoon and caught up with the other internationals and then watched England win comfortably against the Italians… are we in with a shout of the title this weekend? Scotland to beat France in Paris? I don’t think so.. And for us against Wales, I will just say… “beware of the team that has no hope”

So Committee meeting was during the week lots to do, need more volunteers and no money as well …so… nothing unusual there.

This weekend… nuffing at Tonsville on Saturday as the firsts don’t have a game and the seconds plan is to go away to Torrington who I will add didn’t come to us earlier in the season.

At Honiton on Sunday we have one match at home which is the 11’s against Withycombe. Away at Withycombe are the 8’s 12’s and 14’s and the 13’s go to Bridport. …. And just, in the 15’s are off to Yeovil for their rearranged game.

That it for this week

#UTT

Lord Jez.