Teignmouth 33 Penzance Pirates Amateurs 16

Back in September Teignmouth made the long journey to Penzance and came home with a reality check after a heavy defeat. So it was interesting to hear the comments of the management and players after this reversal of fortunes. Coach Simon Morrell, although delighted with the result and the five points which took the Teigns back into second place in the league, was somewhat disappointed with the performance, and his feelings were echoed by skipper Colin Aldworth.

It is a measure of the high expectations at Bitton Park this season that no-one was getting carried away despite this commanding victory over one of the pre-season favourites for promotion.

The home side were on top right from the start, and all of their early pressure eventually resulted in young hooker Pete Parsons scoring the opening try in the 12th minute. From that point on Teignmouth never looked back, although the Pirates came into the game more as the first half wore on.

In the 15th minute Will Luscombe added to Teignmouth’s lead with a penalty, and the home fans settled back for what seemed the inevitable avalanche of points-scoring.

However, Penzance had not made the long journey just to lie down, and having at last secured some possession, No. 8 Matt O’Leary popped up to finish off a move with the visitors’ opening try.

Nevertheless the remainder of the first half was played almost entirely in the visitors’ territory, with second row Aaron Kelly scoring a rare try and Luscombe adding two further penalties. All the Pirates could manage was a Murray Westren penalty of their own as the teams turned round with Teignmouth leading 19-8.

Although Penzance had much more possession and territorial advantage in the first 10 minutes of the second half, all they could manage was another Westren penalty.

A common denominating factor in most of Teignmouth’s victories over the past few years has been the try-scoring ability of utility back Will Sowden. Having been starved of the ball on the wing for most of the first half, it was inevitable that when he finally did get some quality ball, he would add to his impressive tally for the season. So it was that on the hour he received the ball on the halfway line, spotted the smallest of gaps and burst through, showing a clean pair of heels to the pursuing Pirates’ defenders. Luscombe converted from in front of the posts.

Although the visitors never looked likely to overturn the arrears, they made the final ten minutes interesting by scoring a second try of their own through Jack Nicholas. Sowden, however, managed to intercept in midfield with two minutes remaining and easily ran the ball under the posts to give Luscombe another easy conversion.

The game ended on a sour note, with a fracas which resulted in a Pirates’ player needing treatment from paramedics for a facial injury. Forunately he was able to travel back to Cornwall with the rest of the team.

Morrell felt that the victory could have been achieved more comfortably if the backs had stuck to a game plan which involved keeping the ball in hand and not kicking away possession. Certainly, the team has sufficient pace and ability to trouble most defences in this league if they play to their strengths.