Teignmouth 26 - 16 North Petherton

They say that good things come to those who wait; well the patience of the Bitton Park faithful was finally rewarded last Saturday as Teignmouth achieved their first ever South West 1 victory at the eighth time of asking.

A larger than average crowd, swelled by the Club’s annual Vice-Presidents’ Lunch, saw a spirited performance from the Teigns against their fellow strugglers from Somerset, especially in the first half when they notched up three tries with some excellent back play. The hero of the afternoon was centre Jason Luff who used all of his experience to exploit gaps in the North Petherton defence to score a try hat-trick, but much of the home side’s effectiveness came from a powerful performance by the pack, as well as some outstanding defensive work and intelligent running from man-of-the-match, full back Dan Force.

Although the visitors took an early lead through a Harry Roberts penalty, the first 309 minutes belonged to the Teigns as the forwards softened up their opponents, allowing Luff to run in his first two tries and winger Danny Luffman to add a third; Force added two conversions to put the home side 19-3 up.

Unfortunately it has become something of a trend this season for Tegnmouth to lose concentration in the minutes leading up to the break, and sure enough it happened yet again. First centre Jack Kohler evaded some half-hearted tackling to touch down by the posts for Roberts to convert, then more indiscipline gave the Somerset side a penalty on the stroke of half-time. Roberts’s kick reduced the gap to six points.

The second period was very much a war of attrition as fierce defending by both sides caused the opposition into errors just as it seemed like a score was inevitable. Indeed, such was the lack of offensive confidence that with five minutes left the Pethy’s won a penalty just outside the Teigns’ 22, and strangely chose to kick the points.

This gave the home side a chance to bury the ball deep in the visitors’ 22 from the re-start, and in their haste to get the ball moving they coughed up possession allowing Luff to break through a tiring defence to complete his hat-trick. This try proved doubly important, as it guaranteed Teignmouth a bonus point while at the same time denying their opponents one. Force’s third conversion of the afternoon gave his side a ten point advantage which the visitors had little time to reduce.

Coach Simon Morrell was relieved as well as delighted at the final whistle, but pointed out that the same commitment would be needed in the next three weeks against more teams near the bottom of the table, starting this week with an away match at Chard.