Winscombe 26 Teignmouth 21
At the weekend the Winscombe 1st XV entertained Teignmouth and secured a hard-fought win in a thrilling encounter that wasn’t decided until the last play of the game.
Winscombe started strongly, but despite dominating both territory and possession could find no early way through a committed Teignmouth defence.
Eventually wing Will Pearce was fed the ball after a 22-metre scrum and cut inside to score the opening converted try of the game.
Flanker Oscar Browne was soon to add another try after a typically strong drive off the back of a short-range maul.
Teignmouth mounted a period of sustained pressure at the other end of the field as half-time approached but could find no way through, with Winscombe going into the break 12-0 ahead.
At the start of the second period winger Pearce crossed for his second try after the ball was moved to the blind side of a five-metre scrum, before Teignmouth responded with a fine converted try of their own after a strong break mid-field.
The champaign moment of the match, however, occurred midway through the second half.
Winscombe’s centre Sam Dearsley made a strong charge down the left wing and when the ball was moved inside, scrum-half Lewis Podpadec, winning his 150 cap for the 1st team, found himself in space on the Teignmouth 22 and powered through to score his 100th senior try under the posts.
He was quickly swamped by his celebrating teammates before Dearsley slotted the conversion to give the home team a healthy 19-point lead.
But Teignmouth were far from done.
From the restart, they re-gathered possession and quickly scored a converted try of their own before being awarded a penalty try after a series of Winscombe infringements on their 5 metre line.
The two scores set up a tense final five minutes with Teignmouth moving steadily down the Longfield slope to set up camp a matter of metres from the Winscombe try line.
A resolute home defence kept them at bay as the match moved deep into stoppage time.
When the ball was moved from the back of a ruck, replacement flanker Tom Broom threw caution to the wind and snatched the ball out of the air with a brazen interception.
After briefly considering a charge up-field he eventually hoofed the ball to touch to end the match.
The much-needed win moves Winscombe up to fifth in the league.
They travel to North Petherton next weekend where a win could see them move back into the play-off places.
Acey Mead goes down under a challenge but gets up to convert the penalty.
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