Report courtesy of the Herald Express

A CASE OF 'NEARLY BUT NOT QUITE' FOR TICS

TORQUAY ATHETIC 3PTS BARNSTAPLE 17
SOUTH WEST TWO WEST

11:00 - 21 April 2008

Torquay squelched to defeat in an unseasonal mudbath that brought down the curtain on a 'nearly' season for the first team.The Tics were 'nearly' good enough to challenge for promotion, but not quite. Five of the nine defeats sustained by the side were at the hands of three sides who finished above them in the table.

A 21-14 win over Taunton back in September was the only victory Torquay had over a side that finished ahead of them - proof that the table hasn't lied.

Having waited 27 years to win back the Devon Senior Cup, Torquay lost their grip on that with a semi-final defeat by South West Two champions Exmouth.

At first glance then the season hasn't been a success, although appearances can be deceptive at times.

This is the end of Torquay's second season back up in South West Two and, just like the first, they have won substantially more games than they have lost. They haven't broken the bank doing it and haven't been looking behind them all season worrying about avoiding relegation.

You can't afford to stop aiming high - that leads to stagnation and decline - but there is nothing wrong with having a respectable season with no dramas of the unwanted kind. Turn the clock back a decade or so to Torquay's annual battles to avoid relegation from South West One for proof of that.

Coach Mike McDonald, Torquay's next director of rugby in waiting, prowled the touchline anxiously at times during the game exhorting the team to greater efforts.

McDonald will have been disappointed not so much by Torquay losing - they really didn't threaten the Barum line that often to feel hard done by - but by the actual margin of defeat.

Second-placed Barnstaple, who needed this win to guarantee home advantage in the promotion play-offs this Saturday, weren't that much better than Torquay in almost every department.

They didn't kick away as much possession as the home side, but didn't dominate the game through midfield in the way they are used to.

Had the final whistle been blown on 79 minutes when Barum were 10-3 up, that would have been about right. It wasn't and a late try by slippery full-back Paul Scheres was undeserved given Torquay's defensive efforts throughout the match.

Torquay's only points came when full-back Matt Jackson knocked over a penalty in first-half stoppage time.

Barnstaple were 10-0 up at the time thanks entirely to Josh Squire, who kicked a penalty on 15 minutes and converted his own try five minutes later.

It was scoreless until the very end of an entertaining second half when Scheres threaded his way through the Torquay defence along the paddock touchline to score in the corner. Squire converted.