WELLINGTON eased their relegation worries in Regional Two South West with a well-deserved 45-22 win over fellow strugglers Teignmouth on a chilly afternoon at the Athletic Ground.

Wellington, who completed the season’s double over their Devon rivals, having won 20-15 away earlier this winter, went into the game in ninth place in the table, with Teignmouth only six points adrift with a crucial game in hand.

There was not a lot to choose between the sides in the first half with Wellington playing towards the Coram’s Lane end and leading 18-10 at the interval.

But the home side stepped up a gear early in the second half and ran in three tries without reply in the opening 12 minutes. Even so, Teignmouth still managed to hit back with two tries of their own - but by then Wellington had established a 35-10 lead.

Teignmouth, however, twice led early on in the first half - 3-0 and 10-5 - before Wellington pulled ahead at the interval with tries by Mikey Taylor and Jason Rowland with Danny Goverd kicking two penalties and a conversion.

Cam Venn, with a fine solo effort, skipper Ollie Price and Taylor snapped up tries early in the second half right in the corner at the clubhouse end, with Goverd converting one, to put Wellington in a winning position.

Teignmouth closed the gap to 35-17 with two tries, one converted, before Venn and Will Brewer scored further unconverted tries for Wellington, the last coming in the final minute as Wellington rounded off a satisfactory victory.

Elsewhere, leaders Topsham maintained their 100 per cent record with a 27-17 away win over Tiverton.

Meanwhile, Wellington have announced that the guest speakers for their 150th year anniversary gala dinner in a marquee on April 24 will be Mike Teague, Peter Winterbottom and Dean Richards (contact Matt Colman, John Dunbar or Jason Harvey for further info).