TEIGNMOUTH are two wins away from a dream trip to Twickenham in the Papa Johns’ South Shield after coming from a long way behind to win 29-27 at Winscombe.

The Bristol side were 17-0 ahead after 12 minutes and led 24-7 midway through the first half.

Winscombe got into card trouble in the run-up to half time – two yellows and a red left them permanently depleted – and Teignmouth cut the leeway to 24-19 by the break.

With their dominance up-front gone, Winscombe found themselves under pressure.

The second half was a real ding-dong in more ways than one as the teams slugged it out and Winscombe suffered a second red card in the final 10 minutes.

Teignmouth were still behind when Winscombe went down to 13 men, but worked their way back into try scoring range and got in front in the last minute of normal time.

Stoppage time as tense, but Teignmouth held on to earn a quarter-final tie with Wimborne at Bitton Park this Saturday.

Colin Stewart, the Teignmouth coach, praised the front five for being ‘outstanding’ and also the replacements who had a big impact on the game in the final 20 minutes.

However, Stewart added: ‘Next week we have to play quarter-final rugby, not like we played today.’

A converted try after five minutes put Winscombe 7-0 up. Three minutes later Teignmouth lost a line-out and the Somerset side scored a second try.

It only took two more minutes for the home side to cross the line for the third time and go 17-0 up.

Teignmouth got on the board after Winscombe’s double carding when Dayne Layton tapped the penalty and bolted for the line. Jack Mayne added the conversion.

Winscombe responded with try number four to lead 24-7 before the half hour.

The Teigns turned-up the gas in the 10 minutes before half time and narrowed the gap with two tries. George Franklin was mauled over for the first and the second was a penalty try accompanied by a red card for the player pinpointed as responsible for dragging down a goal-bound maul.

Jack Bowen put Teignmouth level with a corner try early in the second half. A penalty put Winscombe 27-24 up, which is how it stayed until the last minute.

With Winscombe another forward down for foul play, Teignmouth’s Will Sowden dashed over for the winning try.

Reflecting on the game, skipper Pete Parsons said improved discipline meant fewer penalties given away and, like Stewart, he acknowledged the impact of the second-half replacements.

Parsons added: ‘It was not our best day – the number of errors was bad – but to come back from 17-0 down after 12 minutes shows the heart that is in this squad.’