TRIBUTE SOUTH WEST ONE (WEST)
TEIGNMOUTH 25 DRYBROOK 15
Teignmouth achieved their second victory of the season with a committed performance against Gloucestershire side Drybrook on a very warm September afternoon.
The visitors have been a bit of a bogey side in the past, but rarely looked likely to take the points back up the M5 on this occasion, even though they had plenty of possession. Unfortunately for them, most of it was in their own half as the Teigns worked like terriers in defence.
After some initial sparring, the home side managed to get some prolonged possession in Drybrook territory, and with some excellent passing managed to put winger Dom Twine in the corner to open the scoring after 15 minutes.
At this level concentration is all-important, but sadly Teignmouth allowed their excitement at scoring to get the better of them; the result was that they completely fouled up the restart allowing Harry Howard to score a soft try for the visitors. Tom Treherne converted to give Drybrook the lead.
However, the Teigns were soon back in control, using their lineout drive to good effect with Pete Parsons scoring his third of the season, and the referee awarding a penalty a few minutes later. Faolan Lidstone added a conversion, before Treherne reduced the arrears with a penalty on half-time.
The conditions sapped the players energy levels in the second half, resulting in a less open style of play. Teignmouth notched their first bonus point of the season with an Alex Ford try and stretched the lead with a Matt Laventure penalty, before Drybrook skipper Ben Large gave the scoreboard more respectability with a late try.
The general feeling after the game was one of quiet satisfaction that the lack of commitment shown the previous week at Clevedon had been properly addressed, but player-coach Colin Aldworth warned his side that they would have to adopt the same determined approach in away games, starting this week at Midsomer Norton.