The Withy 2s hosted a strong, well-drilled Teignmouth 2nd XV at Raleigh Park and there was no shortage of exciting play and late drama for both sides and their supporters to enjoy…

The game started with the visitors applying a huge amount of early pressure on the Withies, with the first ten minutes of the game being largely spent inside the home side’s 22’. The boys defended well but were eventually undone after 11 minutes when the visitors found their way through the defensive wall to score.
After more of the same, Teigns were back up in the red zone and had doubled their lead with the opening quarter drawing to a close.

Despite going two tries down, Withy weren’t going to let this set the tone for the game and began to fight back, going toe-to-toe with the experienced Teignmouth players and with the ball in hand and the tryline in sight, Valley Williams pushed forward and scored. Harry Symons’ conversion bisected the posts, and the gap was reduced to just the three points to 07-10 - A scoreline that would remain until the half time whistle.

The second half got off to a blinding start for the boys in green and black as Morgan West’s crashing run broke through the defence like a battering ram to open the space for a spectacular try to put Withy in the lead for the first time in the game.
The lead wasn’t to last long as Teignmouth struck back with a try of their own in the corner down at Brook End.

In what was fast becoming an exciting end-to-end encounter, Withy marched back up field and with Teignmouth’s discipline failing them, Symons slotted the penalty kick to draw the scores level at 15 points apiece. The leadup to the penalty also saw the Teign Flyhalf shown a yellow card for his efforts in appealing the referee’s decision.
Just one minute later, Withy had the chance to edge in front again with a second kick at goal, but with the ball hitting the posts, the ball remained live and was cleared back downfield.

The next points of the game went the way of the visitors as they picked up a gimme in front of the posts on the edge of the 22’ to take a 15-18 lead into the final five minutes of the game.

Withy were down, but absolutely not out as they still had one last opportunity to get something from the match. Some determined play saw Withy make some decent yardage and were soon back applying pressure inside the Teignmouth 22’. Struggling to deal with the pressure, the Teignmouth players were conceding penalties and free kicks, and with each error, the frustration grew. Withy remained calm, and with some great composure were awarded a free kick 7 metres out from the try line. A quickly taken tap and it was the pick-and-go game on the line. With 84 minutes now on the clock, one last phase saw the ball collected by Valley Williams who found the tiniest of gaps to launch and score to erupting celebrations from both the players and the vast numbers of Withy supporters. Williams’ drop-kicked conversion completed the scoring and the game was done. The final score: Withycombe 2s 22, Teignmouth 2s 18.

A huge win against a strong opponents, and one that will give the boys a big lift ahead of their next match, where they will welcome Honiton 2s to Raleigh Park next Saturday.