Veor 16 Teignmouth 26

Assistant manager Steve Oxley summed up this far from comfortable victory perfectly. “Any win in Cornwall is a good win, but it was a poor game overall.”
Veor have been struggling since winning promotion last year, but on both occasions that they have faced the Teigns, they have made life difficult. Nevertheless, this was a battling performance by the visitors, especially as they had to play for nearly an hour with only 14 men following the sending off of second row Aaron Kelly in the first half.
Despite the large gap between the teams in the league table, it was Veor who started the more confidently, taking the lead in the 10th minute with a try from Reece Trout which was converted by Lee Caddy.
Caddy was able to increase the lead to 11-0 with two penalties before Kelly finally opened Teignmouth’s account by finishing off a rolling maul, but when he got his marching orders shortly afterwards things looked bleak for the away side.
However, they were able to reach half-time without conceding further points, and this allowed them to reorganise which resulted in a much better performance in the second half.
Number 8 Mark Annal managed to marshal the forwards effectively, allowing the backs the time and space to run at the tiring home defence. First winger Dan Force, then skipper Stef Walker went over for tries, and Force added a conversion and three penalties to put Teignmouth out of sight.
Try as they might, the Teigns were unable to force a fourth try for the bonus point, and Veor managed some compensation when Mark Shoyer scored in the final minute.
This win keeps Teignmouth comfortably in third place in the league, but with games running out they need Honiton and Tavistock to start losing matches if the dream of promotion is to become reality. Meanwhile, fourth-placed Crediton come to Bitton Park this Saturday for what should be a testing encounter. KO 3pm.