Honiton RFC progressed to the next round of the Papa Johns Community Cup with an excellent 38-19 victory over Lytchett Minster.

The match started off evenly, despite the away team seemingly having a physical advantage with a large set of forwards and some tall backs.

The Ton conceded the first try, scored by Lytchett tight prop, who supported a break by their outside half, converted for 0-7 after ten minutes.

The next twenty minutes saw Honiton dominate possession and territory but they couldn’t get on the scoreboard.

The away side were very clinical in their visits to the Honiton 22 and had a try disallowed for a forward pass.

Some resolute home defence saw them repel the Lytchett attack and two short scrums resulted in the ball getting cleared upfield.

Honiton got close but handling errors cost them the opportunity to score on several occasions.

The second half started well for the Ton and Will Leonard showed his pace to score on the left after a set scrum move to make the score 5-7.

The recovery was short lived, however, and the away team got their second try through their thirteen, 5-12.

In what was becoming a bit of a see-saw match, Rob Price had one of his typical rumbles and forced his way over from short range, converted by Jake Smith. Scores level at 12 - 12.

Honiton took the lead when Ben Spence took inspiration from the Rob Price playbook to score on the left. Unfortunately, Jake Smith couldn’t convert but the Ton held the lead for the first time in the match 17-22.

The Lytchett thirteen was again showing why he was the main dangerman, as he made a good break up field and followed this up a few plays later with his second try of the game. Converted for 17-19 and the lead went back to the away side.

The Ton started to use the slope well and Jake Smith got the next try of the game when he jigged over from close to the line, he converted his own try, 24-19.

Several minutes later, Johnny House wormed his way over from short range to extend the lead to 31-19 after Jake Smith added the extras with four minutes remaining.

With seconds remaining the away team didn’t give up and tried to play their way out of their 22. Unfortunately for them, Johnny House intercepted at close range to score under the posts, Jake Smith converted in what proved to be the last action of the match. Final score 38-19.