Camborne 82 - 14 Teignmouth

One of the drawbacks of being the coach of an amateur sports team is that inevitably one day work commitments, family ties and injuries will all conspire to leave you tearing up the match day plans you had so carefully formulated in training.

So it was that Teigns’ coach Simon Morrell found himself shuffling a much smaller deck of cards than normal as his side made the long journey to Cornwall’s mining town.

Camborne have made the decision to use their not inconsiderable resources to mount a serious challenge for promotion to National League 3, and therefore the 13 brave Teignmouthians arrived to find that not only were they facing a full complement of 15 players and three replacements, but that one of their opponents was Sam Matevesi, a Fijian international who was playing in the Championship for Plymouth Albion this time last year.

Teignmouth, on the other hand, fielded three youngsters, PJ Cockram, Jack Bowen and Dom Twine, who had played only a handful of matches for the senior side between them. Forward Luke Pattison played out of position in the centre, Henry Raby likewise at fly-half and Neil Johns took over kicking duties for the first time in his three years at the club.

The final result was therefore beyond doubt almost from the kick-off, but what was heartening from a Teignmouth point of view was that the spirit, courage and skill shown by their players gave hope for the rest of the challenges to come this season.

To get the grisly details out of the way, Camborne scored 13 tries in all, six in the first half and seven in the second, and Mr Matavesi helped himself to 3 of them. On the positive side, the Teignmouth pack (George Mowson, Pete Parsons, Sonny Rowe, man-of-the-match Arron Kelly, Gareth Williams, Cockram, Ben Parrett, and, occasionally, Pattison) managed to out-scrummage the Cornishmen until fatigue took over late in the game, and from one first-half scrum the home side were forced to concede a penalty try in an attempt to prevent a pushover. Johns converted.

Indeed, whenever the Teigns had the ball in hand they looked dangerous – full-back Danny Luffman particularly so, scoring a brilliant try after picking up the ball under his own posts, and racing the length of the pitch to score their second try, which Johns again converted. Unfortunately, although they defended like dervishes, Camborne only had to be patient and eventually gaps would appear in their defence.

At the final whistle the Camborne supporters stood to applaud the guts and determination of the visitors, and in the clubhouse afterwards many made the effort to express their admiration to the small band of Teignmouth fans who made the long journey.
One of the “perks” of being in the South West 1 league is that it automatically qualifies the side for the Devon Senior Cup for the first time in decades. This weekend Morrell and the Bitton Park faithful will be hoping that the injuries have cleared up and that jobs and families will be more accommodating, as the visitors in the first round of the Cup are National League 3 side Ivybridge, kick-off 3pm.