Crediton 26 Teignmouth 20

The general feeling amongst supporters of both sides after the match was that the better team had lost as these two Devonian sides went at each other hammer-and-tongs in a thrilling promotion clash.
Last year Crediton easily defeated the Teigns both home and away, so this result gives further evidence of the progress that has been made since coach Simon Morrell took over at Bitton Park. Indeed, the work he has done with the forwards has begun to pay dividends as the pack had another excellent game.
However, Crediton started the game as if they intended to give Teignmouth yet another drubbing, as they stormed to an early 10-0 lead through a Matt Watson try and a conversion and a penalty from Tom Rochetti.
But the Teigns are made of sterner stuff this season, and a penalty from Matt Moses followed by an unconverted try from Chris Tidman saw them come right back into the match.
Teignmouth would no doubt have been satisfied to reach the break only two points down, but just on the whistle they had a defensive kick charged down by Dale Palmer who then touched down to give the home side a 15-8 lead at half-time.
Rochetti added two penalties in the early stages of the second half, and with 15 minutes remaining Crediton looked safe at 21-8. But Tidman had other ideas; until three weeks ago the Teigns’ versatile back had struggled to find the try-scoring form he had shown in the two previous seasons. But four tries against Totnes kick started his season, and he hasn’t looked back since. His second try of the match was converted by Moses, and Teignmouth then stepped up the pressure in an attempt to pull off an unlikely comeback.
With ten minutes remaining, James Drew scored the Teigns’ third try to bring them within one point, but surprisingly Moses missed a relatively easy chance to steal the lead with his conversion attempt.
This set up a grandstand finish, as Crediton refused to stick the ball up their communal jumper, and continued to keep the match open and exciting. As Teignmouth also started to throw the ball around in a desperate attempt to secure a win; but this cavalier attitude was to be their downfall, as the home side managed to take advantage of the holes which had been left in Teignmouth’s defence to score their own third try through Dave Rich.
So the game ended with defeat and the consolation of a losing bonus point for Teignmouth, enabling Crediton to leapfrog them into 3rd place. Captain Colin Aldworth professed himself happy with the performance of the team in general, and the forwards in particular, although obviously not with the result. The general feeling of the travelling supporters was that the team had done them proud, and there remains hope that the Teigns can still close the gap to Cornish front-runners Penzance Pirates Amateurs and Hayle.
This Saturday sees the club host their first Vice-Presidents’ Lunch prior to the home match against Falmouth (kick off 3pm).