GERMAN international Tim Kastens starred on his full Southend Rugby Club debut on Saturday to help end a run of six successive defeats for the Seasiders.

Ben Green’s side went into the National Trophy third round clash having not won since beating Waterloo in mid-October.

But a try from flanker Kastens meant Southend finally tasted victory with a 12-6 win against Barnstaple.

And his display earned praise from Green, the club’s director of rugby.

“Tim came in and did very well,” he confirmed.

“He has been one of the stand out performers so far this season in the second team and deserved this chance.

“He’s a good character and has really put his hand up now to become more involved in the first team.

“It was always going to take him time to adjust to the English game and the way we play but he seems to be doing that now.”

Kastens enjoyed a successful two-week trial at Warners Bridge last season before being snapped up on a permanent basis at the start of the season.

He was handed his first start at the weekend as Southend dug deep in difficult conditions against their South West One hosts.

“If it had been a league game I don’t think we would’ve played,” said Green.

“The conditions were terrible but the referee asked us what we wanted to do and having spent six hours getting there we just wanted to get on with it.

“That’s what we did and fair play to the lads because they really did get stuck in.

“It was pretty much all you could do out there but Barnstaple were very motivated and wanted to cause an upset. We matched them though and in the end we won by two tries to nil so it was very pleasing and great to get a win again.”

Barnstaple were reinstated into the competition after Civil Service, who beat them in the previous round, were disqualified for fielding an unregistered player.

They were unable to make the most of the reprieve though, despite a strong start.

The Devon-based side kept Southend on the back foot and having to defend in strength.

As is so often the case this season the spell of pressure led to a penalty count of 10 to one in favour of the home side in the first 20 minutes.

That resulted in two successful conversions from their kicker to make it 6-0.

Gradually defence turned into attack and Southend started to press.

A strong flowing move involving most of the pack eventually led to flanker Kastens diving powerfully over the line.

It was followed by a successful conversion from Sid Hoult and half time arrived with the score at 7-6 in Southend’s favour.

The pitch, that had been made playable by the sterling efforts of the Barnstaple volunteers, started to cut up in the second half and fitness became a premium requirement.

Southend continued to stay on top and successfully contained the continued combined effort from Barnstaple.

Eventually their patience paid off and another good period of play saw Chris Green go over in the corner for another try.

The kick proved too difficult so the score stayed at 12-6 where it remained until the end of the game.

Southend will now travel to Penzance & Newlyn in the fourth round.

The match will be played on Saturday, January 17.