Tribute South West One West
Kingsbridge 15,
Teignmouth 26
Kingsbridge welcomed old rivals Teignmouth to High House on Saturday hoping for a morale-boosting victory to ease their plight in the South West One relegation zone.
Despite showing some good signs of improvement, the Blue and Whites were unable to sustain pressure late in the game as they slipped to another disappointing defeat.
The hosts had the chance to open the scoring in the fourth minute when they were awarded a penalty, but the kick from George Jones hit the upright, and despite home winger Luke Davies getting to the rebound first, the visitors were able to clear their lines.
On 15 minutes, however, the hosts did open the scoring as a barnstorming break from lock James Palmer in midfield, following a line-out deep in the Teignmouth 22, saw him offload just short of the line for scrum-half Jones to cross over near the posts. Fly-half Ben Newman added the simple conversion for a 7-0 lead.
On 21 minutes the visitors levelled the scores as they powered over in the bottom corner from a catch-and-drive line-out and on 30 minutes a series of poor tackles in the Kingsbridge 22 saw the visitors cross over for a second converted try to open up a 7-14 lead.
A further try on the overlap from the Teigns winger in the bottom corner on 35 minutes saw them extend their lead to 7-19, which remained the score at half time.
Kingsbridge certainly increased their intensity at the start of the second half and showed the visitors that they were not going to simply roll over.
A penalty from fly-half Newman reduced the deficit to 10-19 after 15 minutes of the second half before a powerful break in the Teignmouth 22 from Newman saw him brought down just short of the try line.
Winger James Trout, providing great support, was on hand to burrow his way over for the touchdown for Kingsbridge’s second try.
This strong comeback from the hosts closed the gap to 15-19 and within striking distance on the visitors’ lead.
However, the visitors tightened up their defence to repel the hosts as they started to gain the upper hand with everything to play for.
With seven minutes of the game remaining a needless penalty given away on the Kingsbridge 22 saw Teignmouth put the ball into the corner and their powerful forwards crossed over for a catch-and-drive try from the line-out.
With the conversion added it put the visitors 11 points clear at 15-26 and too big a gap for the hosts to claw back during the time remaining.
The undisputed man-of-the-match for Kingsbridge was lock James Palmer, who was outstanding throughout.
Saturday also saw Kingsbridge A XV travel to face Teignmouth IIs in the Devon Merit Table, where they were on the wrong end of a 31-5 loss. The Blue and Whites’ solitary try came from hooker Freddie Matthews. Kingsbridge Colts travelled to face St Austell in the fourth round of the National Colts Cup, where they were soundly beaten 40-5 to end their interest in the season’s competition.
This Saturday sees Kingsbridge travel to Bideford in the league while the A XV have no match. Kingsbridge Colts start phase two of their Devon Merit Table programme by travelling to face Newton Abbot Colts.