Teignmouth 48 Hayle 14

This match had all of the hallmarks of an end of season jolly – a large crowd (many of whom had enjoyed the splendid Past Players’ Lunch), fine weather and a willingness on the part of both sides to throw the ball around with gay abandon. The result was a seven-try romp for the home side in what seemed like a meaningless fixture – that was until news of Honiton’s defeat at Tavistock left the promotion door ever-so-slightly ajar for Teignmouth.
It didn’t take the Teigns long to get the scoreboard moving; after just 4 minutes fly-half Jake Bury crashed through a suspect Hayle defence to set up an easy conversion for Dan Force. Within 10 minutes the lead had been doubled as winger Adam Dowsing found himself on the end of a flowing move and Force again converted.
With just over 10 minutes gone and 14 points down, things looked bleak for the Cornishmen. However, they had been playing their part in an entertaining start to the game; unfortunately for them, they had been susceptible to handling errors at crucial moments. However, after 21 minutes they got a stroke of luck as flanker Volaifaya charged down Bury’s kick on the halfway line, and took advantage of a fortunate bounce and a real turn of speed to touch down under the posts. Skipper Steve Evans converted.
This turn of events gave Hayle renewed hope, and on the half hour they drew level with a try from lock Humphries which Evans again converted.
However, that was to prove Hayle’s last real show of defiance. Five minutes later Teigns’ skipper Colin Aldworth added to his impressive try tally for the season, and just before half time winger Byron Woods out-paced the defence to added the fourth bonus point try.
The second half continued in a similar vein to the first as both sides sought to get the ball out to their backs. Teignmouth made much more of their possession, and after Force kicked an early penalty, centres Will Sowden and Sean Lovett added a try each before Sowden completed the scoring with a second try; on all three occasions Force converted to take his personal tally to 13 points.
It was hardly surprising that two teams placed third and fourth in the table before kick-off should serve up such entertaining fare, especially as they both felt that their dream of promotion was over for another year. However, the result of the Tavistock-Hayle match means that, should Teignmouth win at Honiton and score a bonus point next week, the second promotion place would go down to the final game of the season.
Before then, however, Teignmouth host their traditional Easter visitors, Old Merchant Taylors, to continue a fixture which goes back to the 1950s. Matches will kick off at 3pm on both Good Friday and Easter Saturday.