he near gale-force conditions were at least partially responsible for the large number of errors

“That was probably technically the worst we have played for a few years. But we showed a terrific amount of heart, spirit and desire,” he explained. “It was weird - we were unhappy with our tactical performance but over the moon with our togetherness and the fact we never backed down.”

T committed by both sides, as running rugby was practically impossible. Surprisingly, given the strength of the wind, Teigns were eventually grateful for the accurate kicking and steely nerves of fly half Mike Saxton, whose penalty from near the touchline in the final minute of normal time gave the visitors their fifth victory of the season, and kept them in touch with the leading pack in fourth place.

Truro have a big pack which they used to good effect early to exert plenty of pressure. It wasn’t long before they were rewarded with the opening try, when the visitors’ defence failed to deal with a kick and scrum half Ricki Brandham forced his way through to score a try which Ashley Riches converted.

Teignmouth were soon back in the game when Saxton slotted his first penalty, before centre Will Sowden kept up his try-a-game record to give the Teigns the lead. Saxton converted.

However, just before half-time the Cornish pack forced the visitors to concede a penalty try which Riches again converted to give Truro a 14-10 lead at the interval.

With the gale behind them in the second half the Teigns hoped to pressurise the home side, but the Truro defence stood firm until the last 10 minutes. Finally the home side began to creak and they were forced to concede a penalty which Saxton scored to reduce the gap to one point.

Teignmouth now sensed an opportunity and continued to pile on the pressure. When Truro conceded a penalty near the touchline in the last minute of normal time, it was by no means an easy kick. However, Saxton kept his head and cleverly used the wind to curl in the winning points.

Coach Simon Morrell was more than pleased with the result. “I was thrilled with the way our boys met the physical challenge that Truro provided. We refused to be pushed around and this gave us a real foothold to go on and win the game.”

This week sees second placed Kingsbridge visit Bitton Park for what should be a ding-dong battle, while the Seconds travel in the opposite direction to the South Hams. Both kick-offs are at 2.30pm.