WELLINGTON’S hopes of making a winning start to the season at the Athletic Ground were cruelly dashed when they slumped to a 52-19 defeat at home to Tiverton in Regional Two South West.

Tiverton, who won the corresponding game 66-10 last November, never looked back after going ahead after only five minutes with a try by Tom Stevens, which was quickly followed by another by Callum Findley, who converted one of the tries.

The Devon side went on to score three more tries, all converted, to lead 33-0 at the interval, punishing Wellington for some poor tackling.

Wellington had plenty of the play but Tiverton were always dangerous with the ball and almost scored at will.

Tiverton piled on the agony early in the second half with both Ben Bingham and Finley completing a hat-trick of tries as the visitors went 45-0 up after an hour’s play.

It was only then that Wellington began to make an impression playing towards the clubhouse end and they scored three tries in succession through Billy Brookes, Evan Greening and Danny Goverd who kicked two conversions to make it 45-19.

But Tiverton, who were never in any danger of losing at this late stage, finished off the scoring in the dying minutes with a try by Alex Curtis which was converted by Finley.

It was a disappointing result for Wellington especially after they played so well in the second half of their match at Okehampton the previous weekend.

They did try to sort out their problems with tackling in training during the week but they could not transfer it onto the pitch as Tiverton followed up their previous week’s win over Wadebridge Camels with a comfortable victory, always looking dangerous with the ball in hand.