Teignmouth’s excellent first season in the Western Counties League

The match was over as a contest by half-time as the Teigns ran in six first half tries against a side which was a shadow of the one which had earned a draw on Dartmoor back in October, but which is now staring relegation squarely in the face.

Teignmouth had their own selection problems with Arron Kelly unavailable because of the head injury he suffered the previous week against Truro, and both Dan Force and Joe Simmonds away on holiday. This resulted in a first appearance of the season for Adam Dowsing and others playing out of position – this had little effect on Teignmouth’s first half performance though.

Within three minutes of the kick-off the home side reprised their well-rehearsed lineout move to put hooker Pete Parsons in for his eighth try of the season, and it was plain sailing from then on.

Dowsing soon took advantage of his rare opportunity to round off a fluent move with a try under the posts, to which Mike Saxton added the first of five conversions on the day.

A short period of pressure from the visitors resulted in an Andrew Griffiths try, converted by Richard West, but this was a mere blip.

If Dowsing’s effort was popular with the home fans, Rob Parsons’s first ever senior try was even more so. Coming off the bench in the first minute to replace Luke Pattison following a nose injury, the player who has dominated the Teignmouth lineout all season found acres of room to run in for the third try. He was closely followed by Chris Tidman, captain Colin Aldworth and Neil Johns as the home side ran riot in the last ten minutes of the half, leaving the interval score 38-7.

The second half started with Dowsing again in the limelight, although this time for the wrong reason! His yellow card following an illegal hand-off allowed Tavvy to take the game to Teignmouth for a few minutes, and the Griffiths/West combination came up trumps again to reduce the lead.

However, it didn’t take long for the Teigns to restore their dominance, as Saxton took centre stage with a penalty, a try and a conversion, before second row Aldworth surprised everyone, including himself, by showing up on the wing to storm over for his second try of the afternoon, and his side’s eighth.

There was an element of disappointment in the post-match discussions, as the side reckoned they had not done themselves justice in the second half. Aldworth begged to differ, however, and was delighted with the 50+ points scored and the fact that his side now sit in first place. He realises, as do the rest of the players and coaching staff, that this is a slightly false position with Ivybridge only one point behind with two games in hand. But there is no doubt that Teignmouth can now be considered as real promotion candidates – that status will be severely tested this Saturday, however, with a visit to fifth-placed Kingsbridge.

Photo: Lorna Gray