Honiton 21 Teignmouth 27

At the end of this pulsating match it would have been difficult for a neutral to work out which team had just gained promotion and which had missed out; Teignmouth celebrated joyously a hard-earned victory whilst Honiton were left ruing a missed chance to go up in style.
Apart from a 20 minute period in the middle of the second half Teignmouth were well in charge up front, and looked likely to score the four tries which would have gained a bonus point and taken the promotion race into the last week of the season.
Kicking downhill on Honiton’s sloping pitch, and with the wind behind them, the Teigns kept the home side in their own half from the start, and it was little surprise when winger Will Gibbs burst through the defence in the 13th minute to open the scoring. Dan Force added the conversion with a lucky deflection off the post.
Until this point Honiton had been showing signs of nervousness, being guilty of several handling errors. However, falling behind gave them the jolt they needed, although it seemed that centre Josh Barratt received a forward pass before touching down. Fly-half Glenn Channing has been one of the most reliable kickers in this league, and made no mistake with the conversion.
Straight from the re-start, it seemed that Joe Cockram had forced his way over the home line, but the referee ruled that he had been prevented from touching down illegally and awarded a penalty instead. Teignmouth chose to try to take advantage of Honiton being a man short thanks to a yellow card awarded for the same incident, but the home pack refused to buckle and the danger passed.
Nevertheless, Force has shown that he is a more-than-competent kicker himself since returning from a lengthy injury, and soon put the visitors back in the lead with a penalty, before Cockram again took on the Honiton defence, this time successfully. Another Force conversion saw Teignmouth reach half-time leading 17-7.
Despite now having the slope and the wind against them, Teignmouth opened the second half as they had finished the first, and within 3 minutes had increased their lead with yet another try from skipper Colin Aldworth; in recent weeks he has been scoring a try a match – not bad for a lock! Force’s kick extended the lead to 24-7, and the bonus point looked within the Teigns’ reach.
Honiton were not finished though; for 20 minutes they hammered away at the visitors’ defence, and the pressure told as first Nick Guilbert, and then Channing reduced the deficit with tries, both of which Channing converted.
This set up a grandstand finish – suddenly every time they had the ball Honiton looked like scoring, only to be denied by top-class defending. Then, in a brief foray into the Honiton half, Force steadied Teignmouth’s nerves with another penalty, and the visitors’ forwards were than able to play the phases and see the last few minutes out with some ease, though no little effort.
At full time, knowing that his team would still be playing in the Tribute Cornwall and Devon League, coach Simon Morrell predicted that next season would see them fulfil the promise they have shown on many occasions this year and set them a target not only of promotion, but also of winning the league.
This season comes to a close this Saturday with a home match against Liskeard and Looe, kick-off at 3pm at Bitton Park.