Teignmouth put the previous week’s disappointing result at Kingsbridge

The fine weather brought a large crowd to Bitton Park, and they witnessed a completely dominant first-half performance, as well as a hat-trick of tries from flying winger Chris Sherlock, which brought the Teigns firmly back into the promotion race.

Coach Simon Morrell had impressed the importance of asserting dominance early on, and he was delighted that his team took his instructions to heart right from the off.

Within 70 seconds the home side were on the board, finding Sherlock open on the left wing; he turned on the boosters and was away from the covering defence in the blink of an eye.

Less than five minutes later, number 8 Jamie Gray showed an equally impressive turn of speed to run in near the posts, enabling Joe Simmonds to open his account with the first of five conversions.

Before a quarter of an hour had been played, Teignmouth had opened up a 22 point lead with a Simmonds penalty and a converted Chris Tidman try, but they had to wait until injury time to earn a bonus point with a fourth try. However, it was well worth waiting for, as Simmonds showed composure, pace and confidence beyond his 17 years to run in from 40 metres out, leaving a trail of hapless would-be tacklers in his wake.

A try from Bude’s skipper James Coomber, converted by Duncan Tout, hinted that the second half might be a bit of an anti-climax, but within a minute Sherlock had added his second try, which Simmonds converted, and the home side were away and running again.

Tries followed at regular intervals as Jake Bury, Sherlock again, and Gray with his second of the afternoon, took the Teigns past the half-century for the second home match in succession.

In an extended period of injury time, Mark Parsons managed a second consolation try, converted by Tout, but this could not take the gloss off a fine performance by the Teigns. With Burnham losing, Teignmouth now move up to second place in the table, a remarkable effort for their first ever season at this level.

Naturally, Morrell was delighted with the way his side took the game to the Cornishmen in the first half, and immediately started looking forward to this week’s huge local derby at fast-improving Torquay Athletic. The ‘Tics will be desperate to gain revenge following Teignmouth’s win at Bitton Park back in October. The game kicks off at 3pm to allow spectators to watch the Italy v England match first.

Match Report Paul Williams