WELLINGTON lost 32-10 to Torquay in Western Counties West.

The phrase ‘We will learn from our mistakes’ is a much overused cliché but in this case the home side put right the things that went wrong the previous week, writes Nick Robins.

They got into an early lead and held on to close the game out for a vital win against their fellow strugglers.

A nearly unchanged squad, with only Tom Sargent unavailable, allowed Joe Dyke to move into his more usual front row slot and give promising ex-Colt Scott Davy an appearance in the match 18.

And along with a couple of other starting changes Wellington looked dangerous from the kick off.

It was only five minutes into the match when fly half Matt Parsons put in a dangerous crossfield kick and from the following breakdown wing Ben Williams received the ball, took it into contact and was driven over for the opening five pointer.

Torquay set their stall out with their large pack trying to dominate matters particularly in the loose where large second row Jonathan Woodhead constantly tried to illegally disrupt play.

His efforts were soon spotted by the experienced Wellington forwards coach and prop Dave Swann who tried to counter this only to be on the end of several punches from the Torquay man who was lucky to only be sin binned for his efforts.

The Red and Blacks took immediate advantage as they pressed into the opposition 22 from where No8 Micky Norman took the ball from the base of a scrum and mauled his way over the line for a second unconverted try.

Wellington were in the ascendancy and capitalised after more pressure resulted in wing Will Hancox coming inside and picking up a pass on the away ten metre line and proceeded to shimmy and sidestep his way to the line for an outstanding individual effort which Parsons converted. Despite their size the visiting pack was now under pressure in set scrums and conceded the next try just before half time as they were pushed over their own line by the home forwards with Norman finishing the move as the ball hit the line much to the delight of the clubhouse corner crowd.

Torquay emerged from their dressing room talk with a clearly different strategy in mind and at the first opportunity put up a high kick to test the home team which was unfortunately not dealt with.

Their experienced scrum half and Captain Alex Jeffery latched onto the loose ball and scampered all the way to the line to recover five points.

Undeterred the Chiefs stuck to their task and swift thinking resulted in Parsons receiving a quick throw in the Tics 22 and found a gap for another unconverted try to counter the reduction in the lead.

The Seasiders were clearly increasing their efforts but the home defence held solid against the onslaught with everyone getting involved in the effort although the play wasn’t all one way as with their better three quarters Wellington were still able to break out and create chances.

It was from another of these attacks that Norman completed his hat-trick when a series of messy scrums finally saw one completed cleanly and again the Wellington man used his physical presence and determination to charge over.

With the kick being missed there were now ten minutes or so to hold out and Torquay to their credit tried their best to get back into contention as the restart kick was not fielded and a following a series of drives Jeffery crossed for his second of the match.

Torquay continued to pound away at the home line but there was going to be no repeat of the previous week’s events as every Wellington player simply put their bodies on the line to hold out these efforts until the final whistle.

Wellington: Dave Swann, Joe Dyke, Lee Wadham, Rob Cooling, Harry Ramsay, Chris Kitto, Micky Norman, Danny Lee, Tim Jenkinson, Matt Parsons, Ben Williams, Robin Trott (Capt), Luke Browne, Will Hancox, Liam Symons. Reps: Ollie Price, Shan Jordan, Scott Davy.