Champions !!!!

Champions
Teignmouth Under 14’s Win Tavistock Tournament

On a bleak wet morning, Teignmouth under 14’s travelled to Tavistock for their 8 team tournament. The young Teign’s showed amazing resilience to win the whole competition and lift the cup.

The 8 teams attending were Tavistock, Teignmouth, Ivybridge, Redruth, Launceston, Newton Abbot, Salisbury and Exeter. The 8 teams were split into two pools of 4 with Teignmouth being placed in pool one with Newton Abbot, Launceston and Tavistock.

This was a tough looking group and first up for the Teign’s were Newton Abbot. This was a hard fought encounter with a real bit of class shown to win the match. This came in the second half when the backs executed a set dummy, scissor, miss move to James Rowe who took the ball a full tilt and ran 50 meters to in under the posts. Final score 7-0

With no break the Teign’s then faced a big Launceston side and worked hard to win the match. This was their worst performance of the day and I believe this was down to coming off the high of beating Newton in the first game and having no chance to discuss the next game, but they fought though to win. Final score 7-5

Next up were Tavistock and the Teign’s played some great rugby to run out 21-7 winners and top the pool.

The other pool was running behind schedule which gave the guys some rest time and the young Teign’s were starting to grow and believe in their own abilities. Now was the serious stuff, knock out rugby. For all their endeavours one bad game now and they would not make the cup final.

The semi final was against Ivybridge so the Teign’s would have to be on their metal upfront to protect possession. The Teign’s really worked hard for each other and this was rewarded with a comfortable 19-0 victory.

Now for the Final against a massive Redruth team. The game kicked off and straight away the young Teign’s were put under pressure with Redruth camped in the Teign’s 22. Time after time the Teign’s made mistakes on their exits and this kept Redruth hammering away at the Teign’s try line. The defence was herculean from the Teign’s who just kept repelling the large Redruth forwards. Then in a flash, Oli Nicks broke and shot up the blind side and was clear with only the full back to beat. He slowed up and through a dummy before running the full length of the field to score under the posts. That signalled half time. The Teign’s were told to keep the ball alive and away from the large Redruth pack and this is exactly what they did in the second half running in 3 very good tries, one from James Rowe and two from Charlie Doolan (who was also awarded the player of the Tournament trophy) with some outstanding handling from the whole team. Final score 26-0

I will not give out special mentions today because every one of you deserves one. It was a truly great performance by you all. The young Teign’s did not conceded a try in both the semi final and final against strong opposition, which is a true testament to their courage and belief in each other.

Lads you were fantastic today and deserved every bit of praise you received. You did your parents and coaches proud but more importantly you did yourselves proud !!!!! Congratulations Champions

Marcus Webb
Proud Coach