Western Counties (W)

Honiton 12, Wellington 38

A quick trip over The Blackdowns meant another local derby for The R&Bs on Saturday, writes Allyn Chetland.

Honiton have been on the up, gaining promotion last season and winning a national cup at Twickenham – confidence is at an all-time high, especially when playing at home.

Wellington made one change from their last outing, as a precaution Joe Dyke withdrew from the squad due to a sore neck with 2nd XV captain Andrew Bellamy replacing him at hooker.

Playing down the slope and with the elements in their favour in the first half, Honiton would have expected to dominate but Wellington had other ideas.

The hosts were rocked by an impressive R&Bs team who played with pace, skill and continuity.

Flanker Liam Phillips crossed first after an unstoppable rolling maul following a lineout, with full-back Rob Hooper successful from the touchline conversion.

Three more tries followed by centre Chris Batts, Phillips and prop Jack Richards, two of which were converted by Hooper.

Breaks by Hooper and Paddy Jarman caught the eye in the build-up to two of the tries and all of these tries would have graced the highest of levels of the game.

Honiton crossed for a close range unconverted try midway through the half to make the half-time score 26-5 to Wellington.

Stung by the first half onslaught, Honiton doubled their efforts as a proud home team would in the second half but the R&Bs defence stood firm.

Wellington again put some impressive attacking plays together and further strengthened their grip on the match when Cam Venn crossed for a close range unconverted try, closely followed by Chris Kitto who benefitted from a dominant scrum to score a push over try converted by Hooper.

In the dying seconds, Honiton’s efforts proved fruitful when they crossed for a converted try underneath the posts to draw the game to an end.

For the second week in a row, the whole squad can be proud of their contributions in this excellent away win against a team playing with lots of confidence.

Liam Phillips continued with his rich vein of form, fullback Rob Hooper and Danny Lee produced their best performances of the season so far whilst Bellamy put in a good shift at hooker.

Penryn are the visitors to The Athletic Ground this coming weekend. The Cornish side are new to league this year and enjoyed a convincing home win against an inform Wadebridge Camels outfit last Saturday.

Wellington: Richards, Bellamy, Walker(M), Venn, Walker (R), Lee, Phillips, Kitto, Goldstone, Jarman (C), Pitman, Batts, Hodgson, Harney, Hooper, Brewer, Gordan, Hancock

Wellington 2nd XV entertained their counterparts from Keynsham last Saturday and eventually ran out worthy winners 29-12.

A scrappy & disjointed first half saw the sides tied at 12-12 but Wellington picked up the pace and dominated the rest of the game.

Joe Coppin, Alex Davey, Scott Howe, Will Hodgson and Ben Gamlin caught the eye while tries were scored by Micky Norman, Tim Jenkinson (2), Davey and Howe with Ricki Marke kicking two conversions.

Western Counties (W)

Cullompton 10, Wiveliscombe 7

A large crowd turned up to watch this Western Counties league encounter between two teams at the lower end of the table, writes Roger Bellamy.

Sadly, the game never reached the level to entertain with both teams struggling to put together any periods of attacking play.

Wiveliscombe started well enough, taking the lead after nine minutes when they created space for Jake Sharland to out pace the home defence and score under the posts.

Dan Quick converted for a 7-0 lead.

Conditions weren't good but both sides rarely threatened to pressurise the opposing try line from that point on.

Set pieces were shared so both teams secured enough possession to play rugby but all too often poor decisions, dropped passes or the ability to actually develop a game plan made the game a poor spectacle.

Cullompton closed the gap to 7-3 just before half-time with the home full-back Ross Oaten kicking a penalty after a high tackle by a Wivey player.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first with both sides continuing to drop the ball and showing very little imagination when they did manage to gain reasonable possession.

Cullompton won the game after they managed to construct a decent driving maul which ended in a try for second row Sam Coffey.

Ross Oaten converted and Cullompton saw out a narrow win.

Wiveliscombe drop to bottom place in the Western Counties league after this defeat and will have to improve if they are to survive at this level.

On Saturday, Wivey host Teignmouth.

Somerset 2 South

Wiveliscombe 2nd XV 24, Yeovil 2nd XV 22

WIVELISCOMBE just edged this victory in an entertaining match which could have gone either way.

The home side fielded one of their strongest line-ups so far this season and tries were scored by Charlie Rowe, Hugh Harris, Joe Price and veteran Phil Hayes.

Harris slotted two conversions.