TEIGNMOUTH and Newbury Blues were well matched in the Papa John’s Regional 2 Shield South semi-final on Saturday, as has been the case all season in truth. On two separate occasions, it looked like Newbury were coasting to an easy victory only for the home side to fight back with real spirit. It finished 39-37 to Newbury.

Teigns were up against it in the early stages of the last round and in this outing as well. Jack Bond opened the scoring for them only for my Man of the Match Oli Rhoads to notch two of his four tries, matched by the precise kicking of skipper Dan Thorne.

A hotly disputed try from George Franklin offered a route back into the game, reducing the Newbury lead to 15-10 just before the break.

Rhoads scored a third and was closely followed across the line by number eight Jonny Lees and hooker Harry Waye-Branch, allowing the visitors a commanding lead in the second half. At this point, someone, somewhere, flicked a switch and the Teigns burst into life.

On the hour, Jack Bowen barged over in the corner, and minutes later the home pack forced Newbury into conceding a penalty try. Shortly after, Franklin was celebrating a second score of the game, although at first the referee deemed that he had been held up. It took an intervention from his touch judge in prime TMO or VAR-style for the try to be awarded.

Teignmouth RFC
Jack Bond goes over. (Lorna Gray)

With just five points between the teams, Teignmouth smelled blood and the final ten minutes of normal time saw them battering away at the Newbury line. Finally, in injury time, Bond crashed through a tiring Newbury defence and set up Jack Mayne with an opportunity to win the tie. The kicker had previously been successful from the tee on 70 occasions during the season, but this was one of those days that everyone has from time to time- as with his other five attempts, the kick went wide and the match went to extra-time.

With both sides out on their feet, extra-time was bound to be a tense affair, and so it proved. In the first period, Rio Cooper nudged the Teigns ahead for the first time since the 18th minute but having already scored a hat-trick it was no surprise that Rhoads should have the final word with three minutes remaining. Thorne did the business with his conversion, leaving the home side with little time and even less energy to fight back again.

This fixture ebbed and flowed all afternoon long with both sides deserving some sort of joy at the final whistle, but it was not to be for Teignmouth in this semi-final.