TEIGNMOUTH RFC have two games left to secure their South West Two status after suffering a 26-21 defeat at Winscombe.

The Teigns’ third defeat in a row has left them three off the bottom of the table, which will almost certainly send them into a relegation play-off game if they stay there. They are three points behind North Petherton with 10 to play for.

Teignmouth’s last two games are Penzance at home this Saturday and North Petherton away on the last day.

As Petherton are the side Teignmouth have to get ahead of to exit the bottom three, a grandstand finish to the season is on the cards.

“It certainly seems that way,” said George Franklin, the Teignmouth captain.

Reflecting on the outcome at Winscombe, Franklin said: “We were agonisingly close to getting the win, a matter of a few inches.

“Apart from the final score, the positives far outweighed the negatives. Our line-out functioned incredibly well, the front five were outstanding at scrum time, our maul was dominant and everyone worked their socks off.

“That performance should give us lots of confidence going into two must-win games.”

Teignmouth trailed 12-0 at half time against Winscombe and were 19 points down before belatedly getting on the board.

A converted try propelled the Coombe 26-7 up, but Teignmouth were not finished yet. They got back to 26-21 down thanks to a converted try and a penalty try, awarded for persistent infringements in the red zone.

The last five minutes were harum-scarum stuff with Teignmouth piling down the hill in search of a try.

Deep into stoppage time a stray pass was intercepted by Winscombe flanker Tom Broom, who hoofed the ball into touch to end the game.

Jordan Hellier and Pete Parsons were Teignmouth’s other try scorers. Luke Atkinson slotted two conversions.

Jack Bowen at No.8 was Man-of-the-Match for Teignmouth.