It never rains but it Pours....

“It never rains but it pours.” That could have been a description of the meteorological conditions in the second half, but it really refers to the injury crisis that the Teigns may be facing following this hotly contested match. For the first time this season Head Coach had a full squad from which to select, but that situation looks like lasting for one week only.

At Bridgwater two weeks previously Henry Raby didn’t even make it onto the pitch following a pre-match eye injury; at least he managed five minutes at Cully before a hamstring injury terminated his contribution. Add to this Rob Parsons’s ankle injury, a bang to the face for Adam Dowsing and a neck injury which left Will Sowden prone on the pitch for 45 minutes waiting for an ambulance to the RD&E at full time, and Dibble and his coaching team will likely have a bit of head-scratching to do when selecting for this week’s match.

All of which shows just what an excellent performance this was by the Teigns to come away with a very hard-earned win. Cullompton may have been promoted last season, but they’ll be no-one’s rabbits this year, especially at home.

It was a victory based on solid defence and some enterprising attacking play, as Cully dominated possession, but the Teigns were far more dangerous when they had the ball.

The home side took an early lead through a Marcus Busch try and a Lewys Ryan conversion on five minutes, but Sowden replied almost immediately thanks to a great offload from Faolan Lidstone, and Mike Saxton added the extras.

The rest of the half saw Cully huffing and puffing, but they only managed to add a Ryan penalty, before Sowden powered over again just before half time and Saxton again converted.

Former Cullompton player Alex Ford put the visitors further ahead on 50 minutes before a defensive mix-up gave Cully a lifeline with a Sean Mardell try. But from then on, despite the constant need to reorganise because of their injury problems, the Teigns rarely looked in danger of conceding, and could have extended their lead were it not for some stout defensive work by the home side.

At the final whistle Dibble praised his side for their resilience in defence, and was particularly pleased at the improvement in tackling compared to the previous week, while expressing some worries about the mounting injury crisis.

This Saturday Gloucestershire side Drybrook travel down from the Forest of Dean for a 3pm kick-off at Bitton Park.