Assistant coach Rick Orkney summed up this match perfectly:

Bearing in mind the gale-force conditions, many spectators expected a game of two halves, as Teignmouth played the first half with the elements in their favour. Although that was exactly what transpired, it was in fact the team playing into the wind which dominated each half.

From the first whistle second-placed Kingsbridge were well on top, keeping the ball tight in their forwards and causing mayhem in the Teigns’ defence. It was therefore no surprise when lock Sean Woodland took advantage of a powerful rolling maul to score the first try, which George Banfield converted.

Such was the visitors’ dominance that it was remarkable that the only other score in the first half was a Mike Saxton penalty for the home side. Good defensive work from the Teigns added to careless handling by the visitors kept Teignmouth in touch at the break.

Although the home side reacted well to coach Morrell’s half-time talk, they went further behind in the 48th minute when flanker Matt Hamilton scored a try which Banfield again converted.

But at this point the home side got a break which allowed them back into the game; Kingsbridge replacement was sent to the sin-bin, and within a minute winger Chris Sherlock was able to take advantage of the extra space in the visitors’ defence to score in the corner.

Unfortunately for Teignmouth, the referee soon found reason to even up the numbers by giving a yellow card to prop George Mowson, and again the result was a try, this time scored by Mike Farrell.

With the score now at 18-9 in the visitors’ favour, and less than 20 minutes on the clock, it seemed that this score would wrap things up for Kingsbridge. But if they thought that, they reckoned without the Teigns’ top scorer Will Sowden. Firstly he powered through the tiring defence to touch down near the posts, allowing Saxton to convert. Then, as the game entered injury time he charged down an attempted clearance and was quick enough to pick up the rebound and allow Saxton another easy conversion.

It seemed that the home side had pulled off a remarkable victory, but with only seconds remaining they gave away a penalty on their own 22, and Banfield calmly tied the scores with the last kick of the match.
Skipper Colin Ashworth and coach Simon Morrell both expressed their disappointment at having victory snatched away in such a cruel fashion, but admitted that their first half performance had been well below par, and acknowledged they could easily have been out of the game at the interval. Nevertheless, Kingsbridge remain unbeaten and this shows what an impressive performance the home side put up in the second half.
With leaders Burnham losing, the top four became somewhat compressed at the top of the table, with Kingsbridge hot on the heels of new leaders Ivybridge, and Teigns still in touch in fourth place.
This week Teignmouth travel to lowly Bude for a 2.30pm kick-off.

PHOTO - LORNA GRAY

REPORT BY: PAUL WILLIAMS