TEIGNMOUTH RFC came off second best by a distance when they ran into South West Two leaders Topsham at Bitton Park.

Topsham had the four-try bonus point secured in the first 15 minutes – they led 28-0 by then – and went on to win 61-14.

Defeat left Teignmouth joint second from bottom in the table alongside Truro, who were whitewashed 37-0 by Cullompton.

Only Newton Abbot are below Teignmouth and Truro in the last table before the Christmas break.

Teignmouth were 42-0 down before they put points on the board through Alex Ford. Jack Mayne converted that try and a later one by Jordan Hellier.

Pete Parsons, the Teignmouth captain, had no grumbles about losing to what he described as ‘an excellent outfit’.

Dec Hadley, Christian Edbrooke, Austin Crow, Tom Oxland, George Holwill, Pat Gibbs, Robin Edbrooke, Erin Inglis all crossed the white line and Henry Batty added eight conversions to the try he scored.

Meanwhile, Ross Bovingdon, the Topsham performance director, commented: “Our set piece was phenomenal and the penalties we kept winning at scrum-time gave us the platform to get our backs going.”