Following the Under 20 South West trials held at Keynsham RFC on Easter Sunday, three of the Cornish players attending the trials have been selected for the South West.
The players are Torin Clarke (Launceston) and both Jack Hodge and James Tucker (Redruth).
The lads will travel to Derbyshire for the final trial weekend from which the England Counties Under 20 squad to tour Romania will be picked.
Congratulations to all three and commiserations to the other Cornish lads who missed out.
Cornish Pirates 33 Yorkshire Carnegie 29
Welcoming Yorkshire Carnegie to the Mennaye Field, the Cornish Pirates recorded a thoroughly deserved and eagerly sought-after win in what was their final Greene King IPA Championship home match of the season, reports Phil Westren.
In a precarious position at the start of the season, under the direction of Chris Stirling the strengthened opponents had climbed to sixth in the league table, just one place below the still fifth-placed Pirates.
The return of scrum-half Alex Day was the one change in the Pirates backs from the side that started at London Scottish last time out, whilst in the forwards Danny Cutmore took the place of an injured Toby Freeman in the second-row and John Stevens was named to wear the number ‘7’ shirt.
After all present had observed an impeccable minute’s silence in respect of innocent victims earlier killed or injured at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, and also not forgetting journalist Lyra McKee who was tragically murdered during Easter in Northern Ireland, on an otherwise perfect afternoon the Pirates also got off to a perfect start.
Young full-back AJ Cant opened the scoring in just the first minute, his effort at the Newlyn gate corner well converted by fly-half Javier Rojas Alvarez.
Yorkshire Carnegie, however, were quick to respond, with full-back Chris Elder firing his penalty strike through the Penzance posts.
Although Elder soon pulled a long-range penalty attempt to the left of the posts, the visitors soon took the lead for the first time after some potent forward play ended with hooker Dylan Donnellan identified as a try-scorer.
A successful Rojas Alvarez penalty saw the Pirates back in front, but when they looked to attack down the left an error gifted Elder a 45-metres run in for a try that he also converted.
A second Rojas Alvarez penalty narrowed the deficit to just two points, but after home flanker Matt Bolwell was yellow-carded ‘Carnegie’ scored a converted try through winger Myles Thoroughgood. On the stroke of half-time it left the scoreline reading 13-22.
The Pirates had played some industrious rugby and the line-out was functioning well. At scrum time, however, they had been put under pressure.
Whistle blown to start the second period it was not long before the still 14-man Pirates were back into the match. No. 8 Tom Duncan made a telling intercept, and with speedster Robin Wedlake lending support the wing crossed for his tenth Championship try of the season. Replacement fly-half Will Cargill, on for the injured Rojas Alvarez, landed the conversion.
Several Pirates were having impressive games, and none more so than hooker and man-of-the-match Dan Frost, who four minutes later showed immense grit and strength to score a converted try at the Penzance posts.
The Pirates went down to 14 men for a second time in the match when Duncan was sin-binned and during his absence Chris Stirling’s side got back in front with a converted try scored at the old Western National corner by wing Elijah Niko.
In what was proving as hot a contest on the field as the weather enjoyed off it, the pendulum swung back to the Pirates when, on about the hour mark, Cargill kicked a penalty to again give the Pirates a lead.
By now there was a sense that with the spirit displayed by the Pirates they genuinely looked the likely winners, which of course proved to be the case. Although feeling unfortunate to lose a third player of the afternoon to the sin bin when Cant was yellow-carded, following a late red card shown visiting replacement hooker Joe Buckle the result was wrapped up thanks to a second penalty kicked by Cargill.
To survive three sin-binnings against opponents who were striving to build on a five-game winning run was truly commendable and the players deserved to enjoy their post-match celebrations. Along with their supporters, they surely did.
Cornish Pirates’ co-coach Alan Paver had also envisaged the game being exciting and positive to overall make for smashing occasion, and he was proved right.
Hey, you can’t beat the return of that good old – good feel factor!
Cornish Pirates: 15 AJ Cant, 14 Robin Wedlake, 13 Rory Parata (Dan Koster 64), 12 Callum Patterson, 11 Alex O’Meara, 10 Javier Rojas Alvarez (Will Cargill 38), 9 Alex Day (Alex Schwarz 61); 1 Marlen Walker (Jack Andrew 61), 2 Dan Frost, 3 Jack Owlett, 4 Danny Cutmore, 5 Brett Beukeboom (c), 6 Matt Bolwell, 7 John Stevens (Dan Lee 64), 8 Tom Duncan.
Replacements (not used): Tom Concu, Jake Clemson.
Yellow cards: Bolwell, Duncan, Cant.
Yorkshire Carnegie: 15 Chris Elder, 14 Myles Thoroughgood, 13 Andy Forsyth, 12 Pete Lucock (George Watkins 44), 11 Elijah Niko, 10 Jade Te Rure (Tom Bullough 65), 9 Sam Wolstenholme; 1 Tom Hill (Andrew Foster 65), 2 Dylan Donnellan (Joe Buckle 61), 3 Craig Mitchell, 4 Fa’atiga Lemalu, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Richard Mayhew (Josh Bainbridge 54), 7 Lewis Wilson, 8 Dan Temm.
Replacements (not used): Kieran Frost, Joe Green.
Red card: Buckle.
Scorers:
Cornish Pirates – tries: Cant, Wedlake, Frost; cons: Rojas Alvarez, Cargill (2); pens: Rojas Alvarez (2), Cargill (2).
I was delighted to be able to present Alex Ducker the Trelawny’s Army Supporters Club, Paul Bawden Cornwall man-of-the-match award, along with Cornwall RFU President Peter James.
TAMAR CUP
DEVON 13 – 28 CORNWALL
By Bill Hooper at the Brickfields
Three tries in the space of sixteen minutes at the beginning of the second half by mercurial Camborne winger Alex Ducker helped Cornwall retain the Tamar Cup, for an eighth year in succession, against old foes Devon at a balmy Brickfields yesterday evening.
Ducker a late call up, who ended his club season on Saturday by scoring four against Ivybridge to break David Weeks’ club record at Camborne, carried on his stellar form in the black and gold.
Apart from Ducker’s performance, there was plenty to enthuse about the Cornwall performance, ahead of more testing challenges in this season’s Bill Beaumont Cup, not least a return against Devon at Brixham on the 18th May.
Devon had the better of the early exchanges taking a deserved lead thanks to a penalty from fly-half Tom Putt.
Full-back Charlie Briant then coughed up a golden chance for the home side with the line begging.
Cornwall began to get their maul working with skipper Ben Hilton, flanker Tony Whittle and Ducker all going close, before they got it right from a catch-and-drive with hooker Tommy-Lee Southworth dotting down from the drive, fly-half Fraser Honey split the uprights on his home turf.
Leading up to half-time Devon pressure saw a clever chip over the top from centre Mitch Pinkus with scrum-half Ben Watts winning the race to the touchdown for Putt to make the half-time score 10-7 to Devon.
Cornwall made four changes at half-time and re-jigged the backline, which saw full-back Matt Shepherd move to outside centre and Harvey Bell from wing to full-back.
It didn’t take long for the re-shuffle to work as Ducker arched his way to the line for the first of his tries with barely a minute on the clock, Shepherd kicking a fine touchline conversion.
Although Putt pulled three points back for Devon with a penalty, Cornwall were soon deep in the Devon twenty-two with the ball moved wide for Shepherd to serve up Ducker for his second try, once more Shepherd banged over the extras for some daylight on the scoreboard.
The Cornish forwards continued to drive hard working an overlap for Ducker to get his third try, needless to say Shepherd slotted his third conversion to effectively seal the result.
Devon put Cornwall under pressure in the closing stages but the Cornish defence was top draw and kept Devon at bay, which was as equally satisfying as the result.
Cornwall’s head coach Graham Dawe was satisfied with the performance on the night. “We have had some good training sessions prior to tonight and looked at a number of players. Some of the lads have put their hands up for selection in the Championship.
“I thought Tony Whittle had a good game for us and I thought Rupert Edwards and Dan Sanderson gave us good options in the second row along with Hilts.
“Rightly a lot of praise will go to the backs but you have to get your foundations right up front to get them good ball and we showed that.
“We shall have to see who’s available for the Kent game, hopefully we will have some of the lads from Redruth, Launceston and St. Ives also in the mix.”
Devon: Charlie Briant, Billy Pinkus, Rhys Palmer, Mitch Pinkus, Kieran Lee, Tom Putt, Ben Watts; Matt Dowick, Dean Avery, Charlie Tribble, Tim Coats, Karl Pearce, Tom McGratton, Ben King, Caleb Sampson.
Replacements: Gaz Walker, Aiden Taylor, Olly Schuster-Wood, Tom Bottoms, Dean Abrams, Peli Vea, Jacob Nash, Ryan Lee, Lewis Paterson, Connor Bedwell, Jake Neville, Jordan Watson, Jake Prophett-O’Neill, Josh Luxon.
Devon scores: Try, Watts, Con, Putt, Pens, Putt 2
Cornwall: Matt Shepherd, Harvey Bell, Jon Dawe, Declan Matthews, Alex Ducker, Fraser Honey, Noah Nash; Dan Job, Tommy-Lee Southworth, Andrius Zacharovas, Ben Hilton (Capt), Rupert Edwards, Adam Hughes, Tony Whittle, Grant Randlesome.
Replacements: Hugh Noot, Miles Davey, Charlie Nicholson, Dan Sanderson, Lewis Wells, George Jones, Darren Livett, Taron Peacock, Fraser Nottle, Rhys Brownfield, Kyle Spear, Oliver Aggiss.
Cornwall scores: Tries, Southworth, Ducker 3, Cons, Honey, Shepherd 3
Referee: Astie Bolton (Gloucs RRS)
Trelawny’s Army, Paul Bawden Memorial, Cornwall man-of-the-match: Alex Ducker
Cornwall side selected to defend the Tamar Cup at Plymouth Albion tomorrow night.
There are seven who played in the corresponding fixture last season at St. Austell when Cornwall retained the Cup 24-12.
Kick-off at Brickfields is 7:30 pm with entry priced at £5, with under 16s getting free entry.
CORNWALL
15. Matt Shepherd (Plymouth Albion)
14. Harvey Bell (Camborne)
13. Jon Dawe (Plymouth Albion)
12. Declan Matthews (Camborne)
11. Alex Ducker (Camborne)
10. Fraser Honey (Plymouth Albion)
9. Noah Nash (Barnstaple)
1. Dan Job (Lanner)
2. Tommy-Lee Southworth (Camborne)
3. Andrius Zacharovas (Camborne)
4. Ben Hilton (Barnstaple, Capt)
5. Rupert Edwards (Wadebridge Camels)
6. Adam Hughes (Penryn)
7. Tony Whittle (Camborne)
8. Grant Randlesome (Penryn)
Replacements;
16. Hugh Noot (St. Austell)
17. Miles Davey (St. Austell)
18. Charlie Nicholson (St. Austell)
19. Dan Sanderson (Falmouth)
20. Lewis Wells (Saltash)
21. George Jones (Penryn)
22. Darren Livett (Wadebridge Camels)
23. Taron Peacock (Camborne)
24. Fraser Nottle (St. Austell)
25. Rhys Brownfield (Camborne)
26. Kyle Spear (Bude)
27. Oliver Aggiss (Liskeard-Looe)
Cornwall travel across the Tamar on Tuesday evening, 16th April, to take on Devon at Plymouth Albion’s Brickfields ground at 7:30 pm in this season’s Tamar Cup.
Cornwall will be looking to retain the Cup they defended successfully last season when they defeated Devon 24-12 at St. Austell.
Head coach Graham Dawe will once again be looking to field a competitive side running the rule over certain players with a view to the upcoming Bill Beaumont Cup campaign which begins against Kent on May 4th.
Cornwall Senior XV continue their preparation for the 2019 Bill Beaumont County Championship with the annual Tamar Cup game with Devon to be played at Brickfields Plymouth on Tuesday 16th April with a 7.30pm kick off.
This comes at a time when clubs and players are battling for promotions, some through the play-offs, making a big demand and asking for a big commitment from the players. Terry Carter and CRFU selectors want to put out on to the pitch the best team and are very aware of what is being asked of our players due to RFU league schedules and the timing of the Championships but the determination of Cornish players to pull on the ‘black and gold’ and represent their county is still as evident as it always was during previous campaigns with some that have ended up at Twickenham.
Wednesday 10th April is the last training session for coaches Graham Dawe and Marek Churcher to assemble the squad for the Tamar Cup. Captain Ben Hilton expects a busy evening as players go through the preparation with injured and unavailable for selection players on the touchline also making sure they are in the frame for Championship games selection. At the St Austell Brewery team building event senior players talked about the pride of being the best and of playing for Cornwall being special and an honour.
Cornwall RFU look forward to some healthy support from Trelawny’s Army on the night.
Team news will be released when available.
CORNWALL RFU UNDER 20 – South West Trials.
Although the Cornwall Rugby Football Union (CRFU) 2019, Under 20 County Championship campaign has ended, eight of their players have been invited to the South West training day, being held on Easter Sunday, at Keynsham RFC.
This is the next stage for the players who will hope it will end with them earning selection for the England Counties Under 20s.
CRFU President Peter James said “It is a great honour for these guys to have been selected due to their performances in the Jason Leonard Cup playing for Cornwall.”
The eight players represent four different Cornish clubs along with Bath University. The majority come from Redruth with all four players having played for the National League 2 South team this season.
The players selected are;
Torin Clarke – Launceston
Connor Gilbert – Redruth
Jack Hodge – Redruth
Rory Mead – Bude
Mawgan Osborne – Penzance & Newlyn Colts
Jake Penprase – Bath University
Aaron Simmonds – Redruth
James Tucker – Redruth
Almost fifty players from eight counties have been invited to train at Keynsham RFC. From that day the South West selectors will pick a South West team, who will play against the other regions in Derbyshire on the weekend of 11 / 12 May.
The Cornwall U20 team manager Colin Hatch said; -”These eight guys are now up against the best players from our region this season, and will need to perform on the day to get selected for the South West team. We are all immensely proud of their achievement in being selected and representing Cornwall at this level. We would also like to thank Trelawny’s Army Supporters Club, who once again have assisted these young guys with their travelling expenses to this training session in Bristol.”
Trelawny’s Army are delighted to help with the cost of travel for the lads and wish them every success.
TRELAWNY’S ARMY CRFU COLTS CUP FINAL
ST. AUSTELL COLTS 6 – 23 PENZANCE & NEWYLN COLTS
Penzance & Newlyn Colts completed the first leg of a hoped for double by lifting the Colts Cup against St. Austell, reports Bill Hooper from Tregorrick Park.
They will have to wait to see if they can also land the Colts league.
The game was ended some six minutes from time by the referee following a neck injury to one of the Pirates’ colts however; the result had already been secured.
St. Austell, roared on by a vociferous home crowd, began brightly taking a 6-0 lead early on thanks to a couple of Ashley Gilder penalties.
Pirates weathered a sin-binning of their fly-half to strike back with a good try scored by No.8 Mawgan Osborne, converted by scrum-half Alistair Stacey to take a lead they would never relinquish.
Stacey then kicked a penalty before scoring and unconverted try near half-time following a strong run from flanker Oliver Mackenzie.
Despite some promising phases Saints were unable to get a crucial score, instead Pirates went further ahead with a try from skipper Toby Osborne.
Stacey kicked a penalty to put Pirates more than two scores ahead before the unfortunate injury brought the game to a premature end.
In the other finals played Launceston defeated Camborne 40-22 to win the Shield.
Saltash won 33-10 against Truro in the Plate and Newquay Hornets got the better of Penryn 38-10 in the Bowl.
A good day’s rugby and thanks must go to St. Austell RFC for their organisation and to Lee Maher from the Colts section for running the day.
Trelawny’s Army are once again delighted to be the sponsor for Cornwall RFU Colts Cup Finals Day to be held on Sunday 7th April at St. Austell RFC.
Program of matches.
TASC Bowl Final
Newquay Hornets v Penryn 11 am
TASC Plate Final
Saltash v Truro 12:30 pm
TASC Shield Final
Camborne v Launceston 2 pm
TASC Cup Final
Penzance & Newlyn v St. Austell 3:30 pm
s
Cornish Pirates 7 London Irish 35
Despite the Cornish Pirates playing with a truly commendable spirit throughout, five tries from London Irish, all converted by Ireland international Ian Keatley, saw the visitors to victory, reports Phil Westren.
The teams had already played each other three times this season, the Pirates in their last meeting recording a first ever win against London Irish, which back in mid-December had delivered a perfect Christmas present. Following that loss, it was always likely that ‘Irish’ would seek their revenge, with the added incentive of striving to hone towards almost certain promotion at the business end of the season.
The Pirates made three changes in their starting line-up from the one that ran out at Bedford the previous weekend. AJ Cant slotted in on the left wing and in the front-row Sam Matavesi was named at hooker and Jack Owlett at tight-head prop.
The visit of London Irish, combined with that of the Falmouth Marine Band plus sunny weather, helped create a real pre-match buzz about the ‘Mennaye’, and it one certainly enjoyed by both sets of supporters.
After a lively start from the competing teams, it was London Irish who opened their account in the twelfth minute with a try scored at the old Western National corner by centre Tom Stephenson. Fly-half Keatley followed up with the first of his five conversions slotted in the match.
In the period that followed the visitors dominated possession, ending with Stephenson making it over the line again for a second converted score.
Conditions were, of course, much better than Irish had experienced on their last visit to Penzance, and fielding a side littered with international performers there were threats aplenty for the Pirates to contend with.
There was credit due the Cornish team for efforts made in also striving to launch attacks. Centre Rory Parata and wing Robin Wedlake were to the fore, alongside willing ball carriers in hooker Sam Matavesi and flankers Josh Caulfield and Matt Bolwell. The Pirates line-out also functioned well, as did their scrum which was holding up commendably well against larger opponents. Despite these positives, however, it was the defensive determination and line speed display of their opponents that was mightily impressive. Indeed, here was a squad that had arrived fully focused, their collective will to deliver at a level this particular scribe has seldom witnessed.
After Pirates’ centre Javier Rojas Alvarez was luckless with a penalty attempt on 32 minutes, just before the break the visitors extended their lead when a run from Luke McLean was given support by scrum-half Ben Meehan who scored a converted try to the left of the Newlyn posts.
London Irish proceeded to notch a bonus point just four minutes into the second half, it the turn of right-wing Ben Loader to get his name on the scoresheet. Making a counter-attack from some 40 metres out, in what seemed just a flash he dotted the ball down at the Penzance posts, with Keatley’s fourth conversion making it 0-28.
Showing resolve, the Pirates maintained their effort and boosted by fresh legs gained ultimate reward. After pressing close to the line, it appeared that London Irish were about to clear the danger, only for Matavesi to pounce and score a try converted by Rojas Alvarez.
Now was a period when the Pirates looked in control and pressing for a second score wing Cant was unlucky not to gather and make it over on the left. It felt that their efforts were deserving of further points, but it was not to be, Meehan’s second try of the match, again converted, delivering for London Irish their keenly sought-after victory.
Speaking after the game, Cornish Pirates’ co-coach Gavin Cattle had praise both for London Irish and his own team. He commented.“We have to commend London Irish for a complete professional performance. They made us work for everything and controlled field position, especially with the breeze advantage in the first half.
“Looking at how we played, there were certainly positives to take from the match. Our discipline was improved and sticking in the fight we reacted well from our defeat at Bedford.
“There are a few battered bodies and seeing the effort put in every week I’m just proud of the boys. Today was a case that at times you just have to tip your hat to a better team.”
Cornish Pirates: 15 Maliq Holden, 14 Robin Wedlake, 13 Rory Parata (Dan Koster 6), 12 Javier Rojas Alvarez, 11 AJ Cant, 10 Will Cargill (Callum Patterson 54), 9 Alex Schwarz (Alex Day 54); 1 Marlen Walker (Jack Andrew 40), 2 Sam Matavesi (Dan Frost 70), 3 Jack Owlett, 4 Toby Freeman, 5 Brett Beukeboom (c), 6 Josh Caulfield, 7 Matt Bolwell (John Stevens 53), 8 Tom Duncan (Dan Lee 53).
London Irish: 15 Alivereti Veitokani, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Tom Stephenson, 12 Fergus Mulchrone, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Ian Keatley (Jacob Atkins 74), 9 Ben Meehan (Scott Steele 74); 1 Gordon Reid (Lovejoy Chawatama 74), 2 Dave Porecki (Michael van Vuuren 74), 3 Ollie Hoskins, 4 Franco van der Merwe (Barney Maddison 73), 5 Josh McNally (c), 6 Albert Tuisue, 7 TJ Ioane, 8 Ofisa Treviranus (Jake Schatz 73).
Replacement (not used): Matt Williams.
Scorers: Cornish Pirates – try: Matavesi; con: Rojas Alvarez. London Irish – tries: Stephenson (2), Meehan (2), Loader; cons: Keatley (5).
Referee: JP Doyle (RFU)
Crowd: 2722
St. Austell Brewery’s ‘Cornish Pirates’ Man-of-the-Match: Sam Matavesi
