Teignmouth 25 Falmouth 20

A bumper crowd at Bitton Park saw a spirited second half comeback which kept the home side well in the hunt for promotion against a well-organised Cornish side. With other results going in Teignmouth’s favour, they now sit nicely in fourth place in the league table with nearly half of the season completed.
One of the joys of rugby at this level is the social side, and following tradition Teignmouth held the first of this season’s Vice-Presidents’ Lunches before the match. In addition, the Colts team played Newton Abbot as a curtain-raiser, running out easy winners. These two events ensured a big following for the First XV, and the home fans went away well satisfied with the result, if not, perhaps, the performance.
Whereas the previous week Teignmouth had been very unlucky to lose away to Crediton, this week the gods of fortune were smiling on them, as they trailed Falmouth for all but 12 minutes of the match.
The first half saw the visitors dominate up front; Teignmouth’s lineout failed to function at all, the scrum found itself constantly under pressure and in the loose Falmouth’s forwards were able to control every maul with ease. So it was no surprise when the visitors took the lead in the 12th minute with a rolling maul from 25 metres out. Centre Ben Woodman emerged from the tangle of bodies to claim the try and Jake Sevier added the conversion.
Teignmouth’s pre-match plans had been somewhat disrupted as fly-half Matt Moses was delayed at Torbay Hospital as his wife gave birth. New signing Jarrad Baker stepped into the breach, and also took over the kicking duties; his steady kicking style was to keep the home side in touch throughout the game, and he registered his first points for his new club after 15 minutes with a long range penalty.
Falmouth, however, had discovered that keeping the play amongst the forwards was the way to deny Teignmouth’s backs the possession they craved, and so it was that a second try was scored in similar fashion to the first in the 31st minute. Again, Woodman was the last man up with the ball but this time Sevier failed with his conversion attempt. All Teignmouth could reply with before half time was another Baker penalty; but the interval score of 6-12 did not really reflect the domination shown by the visitors.
However, time and again this season Teignmouth have been able to exert second half pressure on tiring opponents as their superior fitness levels have borne fruit. Usually this has happened shortly after the break, but home fans had to be more patient this week as first Baker and Sevier exchanged penalties and then Falmouth scored a third try through Chris Pollard from yet another rolling maul.
With less than half an hour to go and trailing 9-20, even the most optimistic supporters felt that the game was up, but the forwards were now starting to exert pressure and following two more Baker penalties, Teignmouth finally scored a try of their own as No. 8 Drew took advantage of a sustained period of possession to cross in the corner and level the scores with 10 minutes remaining.
So it was that the large crowd were treated to a grandstand finish; they say “Cometh the hour, cometh the man”, and in Teignmouth’s case so often in the past couple of years the man of the moment has been utility back Will Sowden. Starved of the ball for so much of the match, he finally managed to get on the end of a flowing passing move and finished off the move with a flourish to win a match which had seemed for so long to be out of the Teigns’ reach.
Coach Simon Morrell put the first half performance down to a lack of front row resources because of injury and work commitments, and also to the reorganisation needed due to Moses’s absence at the beginning of the match. The fact that the proud dad rushed back from the hospital to play a part in the second half is a measure of the team spirit that exists at Bitton Park at present; with only four points covering the top four teams everyone wants to be a part of what could be one of the most successful seasons in Teignmouth’s 137 year history.
This week sees a chance for injuries to heal and tired limbs to recover; but third-placed Hayle lie in wait next week for what could well be a decisive fixture.