Story by Joe Acklam

Teddington returned to action after the Easter break as they hosted Eastbourne in the last 16 of the Papa Johns Cup on Saturday. 

Eastbourne impressed this year in the Sussex Counties 2 league, winning that division with just the one defeat on their record. 

Two weeks ago they dispatched a strong Dover side in the first round of the Cup, so Teddington were under no illusions as to the challenge the south coast side would present. 

The Antlers had to reshuffle their back line for this one, due to a few players being unavailable and injuries, but such is the strength of depth this season that they looked no weaker for it. 

Starts were given to young Antlers Gabe Roberts and Tom Williams, whilst Adam Causer was brought in to orchestrate things from fly half. 

The game kicked off in warm spring sunshine in front of a sizeable crowd and it was the home side who started the brighter. 

Teddington were taking the direct approach, as they continually carried the ball forward, making decent inroads into Eastbourne territory. 

The Eastbourne defence was resolute though, as it stood up to the Teddington attacks, and the home side were unable to convert their good field positions into trys. 

Eastbourne did inevitably concede a couple of penalties under the pressure which Causer converted to give Teddington a 6-0 early advantage. 

A major turning point came on the half hour mark with Eastbourne starting to threaten the Teddington line; after some foul play, the referee had no alternative but to issue the Eastbourne prop forward with a straight red card reducing the visitors to 14 for the rest of the match. 

Soon after, Jack Miller made a line break and offloaded to a marauding Teddy Gibson who charged over to touch down under the posts. Adam Causer converted and Teddington turned around 13-0 to the good at the break. 

The second half found Teddington struggling to maintain the high energy of the first half and they struggled to put a stubborn Eastbourne team away. 

A yellow card for the hosts briefly evened out the playing numbers for a while, but whilst Eastbourne saw this as an opportunity to get back into the game, it was Teddington's resolute defence, often described in these reports this season, which kept the visitors out. 

Once restored to a full playing compliment, Teddington then put the game to bed as Gabe Roberts followed up his own probing kick into Eastbourne territory by touching down in the corner. 

For good measure the youngster then converted his own try from the touchline and the Surrey league Champions were into the last 8. 

The draw will be made for the Quarter finals early next week, but it will no doubt provide another stern test for Teddington in a season where so far they have found all the answers. 

Final Score Teddington RFC 20 Eastbourne RFC 0. Man of the Match Rory MERCER.

The 2nd team went down to Farnham on Saturday for their Surrey Merit table play off game. It was a young side, containing two current Colts making their senior debuts, Jack and Kit Heales. 

Both had solid games, but unfortunately the Antlers came off second best in a game where the momentum swung from one way to the other many times. Two late try's sealed it for Farnham and they progress to the play off final on the 29th. 

For the 2nd team, that now signals the end of the season, allowing the players to rest up for a couple of months before coming back for pre-season training in the summer. 

Final Score Farnham 3rd XV 41 Teddington 2nd XV 29.