PLYMSTOCK Albion Oaks found Twickenham-bound Honiton in no mood to be charitable on Saturday when the teams met in the Devon Intermediate Shield final.
Oaks had hoped that Honiton’s focus might be on next weekend’s RFU Senior Vase final at the home of English rugby. But the East Devon club put that big event to the back of their minds as they ran out 46-12 winners at a windy Allhallows.
Plymstock’s player-coach Aiden Taylor had said before the match that the last thing they wanted to do was to concede some early points as that could make it an easy afternoon for Cornwall/Devon League runners-up Honiton. Yet, that is exactly what happened.
Honiton, playing down the slope, scored their first try after less than a minute after Oaks knocked on the kick-off and full-back Kyle Blackmore scored from the resultant scrum.
The first half proved a nightmare for Oaks, who found themselves 32-0 down at the break.
As well as Blackmore, Honiton had Josh Rice, Ben Webber and Nick Guilbert scoring tries in the opening 40 minutes, with Tom Steer kicking 12 points.
Honiton went 39-0 ahead straight after the break with a try by Devon captain Nathan Hannay before Oaks did get on the scoreboard with a try in the right corner from player-coach Taylor.
Plymstock’s hopes of building on that were hit by Tom Richards picking up a yellow card for a high tackle on 50 minutes. Two minutes later former Leeds and Jersey player Hannay scored his second try.
Oaks did finish quite strongly and in the closing stages they added a second try when Richards scored after Taylor had been stopped just short after a good break down the left wing.