Teignmouth 27 - 35 Weston-super-Mare

They say that a week is a long time in politics – well it seems that the same can be said of 80 minutes in rugby, if Teigns’ coach Simon Morrell’s comments before and after this exciting match are anything to go by.

Pre-match Morrell insisted that, given the contrasting fortunes of the two sides this season, and the fact that they were playing two levels apart last season, he would be happy with a losing bonus point from the encounter. However, by the final whistle he was left feeling deflated as his side passed up an excellent opportunity to register their first win of the season.

The first half saw Teignmouth on top for long periods, and by the half-hour mark they led 12-3 though tries from Jack Darragh and Sam Fellows and a Dan Force conversion after Dan Lomax had given Weston an early lead with a penalty.

However, as so often this season the home side were unable to maintain their concentration for a full half, and in the last ten minutes managed to ship three tries through Mike Hocking, Harry Jones and Matt Watkins, the second of which was converted by Lomax.

Turning round 20-12 down, the omens were not good for the Teigns, as in previous weeks the side have reacted poorly to pre-interval setbacks. This time however, they responded positively and two fine long range tries in the first five minutes after the break from Jason Luff and Danny Luffman, along with a second Force conversion, restored the home side’s lead, and ensured a bonus point for the first time this season.

Sadly, this proved to be the spur that a lacklustre Weston side needed, and within five minutes they were back in front thanks to a Chris Young score, and when Lomax added a penalty in the 65th minute, Teignmouth needed a fifth try if they were to break their winless streak.

Two minutes later Luff dropped a goal to put the home side within one point, but sadly this gave Weston the opportunity to put the ball deep into Teigns’ territory where they were able to play out much of the final ten minutes, resulting in a George Spark try near the posts which Lomax converted to give the visitors a comfortable eight point cushion.

This effectively left Teignmouth with only a second losing bonus point to play for. Try as they might in injury time they were unable to achieve the one score necessary and Weston were left celebrating rather over-enthusiastically a victory which the league table suggested should have been a formality.

In his post-match comments Morrell made it clear that he was less than happy with the outcome, blaming individual errors and lack of fitness, both physical and mental, for the defeat, and suggested that the remedy lay in a more assiduous approach to training. However, he acknowledged that this was a huge improvement on what had gone before, and that his side were now in a position to approach a series of potential relegation battles over the next few weeks with more confidence.

The first of these is a home match against North Petherton which kicks off at 2.30pm, following a Colts match against Topsham at 12 noon.