Teignmouth 39
Withycombe 10
Withycombe's hopes of besting last season's fourth-placed finish in the league suffered another blow on Saturday as they slumped to a third defeat in five games. "The scoreline didn't accurately reflect the game" is becoming less of a catchphrase and more of a cruel joke; even the most ardent Teignmouth supporters would not place their side as 29 points better than a Withycombe side beset by injuries and unavailabilities.
It started grimly: exposing Withies' naivete at the breakdown, Teigns sniped from a first-phase ruck to score under the posts; then a Withy overlap was scuppered by an interception that was returned 60 metres for a try at the opposite end. It was 14-0 after seven minutes and Withycombe were on the ropes. The visitors rallied to put the home side under spells of considerable pressure; the much-vaunted Teigns scrum was constantly retreating and strong running from Withycombe's ball carriers made some huge inroads. Unfortunately for Withy, the finishing touch couldn't be applied and all too often the move would end with a drop-on or a Teigns penalty. On 40 minutes Withycombe finally got some reward for their industry, Jack Pugsley opening their account with a well-struck penalty from 40 yards, only for Teignmouth to reply with a try on the stroke of half-time to make it 19-3.
The second half continued in much the same vein as the first, Teignmouth striking with an early try and penalty to stretch their lead to 27-3, and a lot of hard work going to waste as Withycombe let themselves down with tactical kicking and discipline at the fringes of rucks. With 20 minutes to go Neil Williams stormed over from No.8 to give WIthycombe hope. Jack Pugsley slotted the conversion but it would be the last points Withycombe scored as time and again their creativity and hard work yielded nothing. Yellow cards for Mike Richards and Jack Pugsley in the closing stages of the game essentially ended Withycombe's dwindling hopes of salvaging anything from the game, and Teignmouth capitalised to run in two late tries to further inflate the apparent disparity between the teams. Despite the unfairness of the scoreline, Withycombe were distinctly second best on the day, and will have to learn to win in challenging circumstances. They host Newquay at Raleigh Park this Saturday with a further tough test the following week at Tiverton.
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