MCATEE SET TO BOOST CORNWALL’S ATTACKING OPTIONS

McATEE SET TO BOOST CORNWALL’S ATTACKING OPTIONS

By Bill Hooper, at the Recreation Ground.

Cornwall went through their final preparations for Saturday’s vital Bill Beaumont Cup match against Hertfordshire at Hertford RFC kick-off 2 pm at a damp and dismal Redruth on Wednesday evening under the watchful eye of Cornwall’s head coach Dave “Benji” Thomas.

However, on the pitch running around with his usual enthusiasm and looking to get involved with the ball was Cornish Pirates’ winger Rhodri McAtee who is set to leave the Mennaye at the end of the season and could very well end up at Redruth next season where he played a few games on loan this season.

After training Benji gave us his thoughts starting with team selection. He said. “The forwards will be the same as started last Saturday against Gloucestershire. In the backs sadly Ryan Westren (London Scottish) still hasn’t recovered from his groin injury, so Steve Johns (Plymouth Albion) moves from the wing to the centre with Lewis Paterson, and we have brought Rhodri in on the wing.

Benji was delighted to be able to have McAtee in his side. “The strength of the Hertfordshire side is in their backs hopefully we are going to be able to match pace with pace especially on the wings with both McAtee and Richard Bright.

“Hopefully we can get enough possession to get the ball wide to our wingers and they will show their paces on Saturday.

“Hertfordshire are going to be a very tough side to beat on Saturday. They have got a few players from Saracens in their side and they are going to be an unknown quantity, but at the end of the day we’ve just got to get on and deal with the opposition on the day, no matter who they play for we’ve got to stick to our game plan and go through our structure and shape and hope to come out with a win which will put us in a good place prior to the final group match against North Midlands on Saturday week at Camborne.

He agreed that the Cornish boys would be travelling with confidence after last Saturday’s great win over Gloucestershire at Redruth. “That Gloucestershire side was as big as we have ever played and I think our boys showed terrific passion and pride against them.

Benji has also had a detailed report of Hertfordshire’s win over North Midlands compiled by London Cornish Director of Rugby Dickon Moon. “I’ve had some long conversations with Dickon he has given me a lot of information which I have passed on to the boys along with a video of their game. So it’s very much a case of “One and All” coming together for Cornwall.

Cornwall (Cornish All Blacks unless otherwise): B Rule (Redruth), R Bright, S Johns (Plymouth Albion), L Paterson, R McAtee (Cornish Pirates), L Webb, G Goodfellow (Redruth); D Jacques (Redruth), J Salter, C Williams (Redruth), B Hilton (Capt), B Jenkins (Cambridge), M Rawlings, T Rawlings, S Hocking (Plymouth Albion).

Replacements: R Brown (Redruth), P Joyce (Redruth), C Fuca (Redruth), T Duncan (Redruth), D Pascoe (Penryn & Royal Navy), J Murphy, T Notman (Redruth) .

Posted in Bill's Blog


PIRATES’ ONSLAUGHT STUNS BRISTOL

RFU CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL 1ST LEG

CORNISH PIRATES 45 – 24 BRISTOL RUGBY

By Bill Hooper at the Mennaye Field Penzance

Twenty-six unanswered points in the final twenty minutes left promotion favourites Bristol bewildered and bemused at the final whistle at the Mennaye Field on May Bank Holiday Monday.

With a 12-05 pm kick-off, little did the crowd suspect of the “high noon” drama that was about to unfold before them in a match, which early on Bristol looked to have a stranglehold on.

Two early converted tries during the first ten minutes for Bristol scored by flanker James Merriman and winger William Helu gave the visitors the perfect start they would have hoped for in the first-leg of this RFU Championship semi-final.

The Cornish Pirates had to dig deep to play their way back into the game after such a disappointing start.

Pirates’ full-back Rob Cook cut the deficit with a penalty on 15 minutes, but that was soon cancelled out as Bristol’s fly-half Matt Jones replied in kind to add to the two conversions he had kicked earlier.

Cook though struck twice more before half-time to leave the Pirates trailing at the break 17-9.

The Pirates had shown plenty of promise during the first half with some big carries from locks Ian Nimmo and Laurie McGlone.

The man who always stands out in the Pirates’ shirt and who will be sorely missed next season when he moves to Harlequins hooker Dave Ward had his usual immense game.

It was vital that the Pirates got the first score in the second period. It came following a period of Pirate’s pressure with a pass thrown out by centre Andrew Suniula was take at pace by Cook who weaved his way through a pretty ordinary Bristol defence to score the Pirates first try of the afternoon on 49 minutes.

Cook’s conversion left the Pirates just a point adrift of the visitors, you could sense the home side’s spirits lifted by the score.

Flanker Phil Burgees put in a tremendous run before fly-half Cieron Thomas’ kick to the clubhouse corner put Bristol under huge pressure. Pirates managed to disrupt the lineout and almost got the try only for referee JP Doyle to penalise the visitors giving Cook the opportunity to put the Pirates in the lead for the first time during the game, his fourth penalty making it 19-17.

Bristol still had some gas in the tank at this stage and played their way into the Pirates’ twenty-two, fine play saw them create a try scoring chance with scrum-half Tipuna Te Ruki providing the scoring pass to winger Helu who ran in his second try at the Newlyn End. Jones’ conversion gave Bristol a five point lead with 22 minutes to play.

Just five minutes later the Pirates’ forwards created a try for prop Carl Rimmer who powered over, Cook’s conversion swinging the game back in the Pirates’ favour 26-24.

Bristol looked to be dead on their feet as the game ticked into the final 10 minutes, the Pirates’ sensed it and took their chance in some style scoring three more tries.

A penalty kicked towards the scoreboard corner saw Nimmo soar to claim the lineout ball, the forwards then drove towards the line before the ball was moved inside for winger Dave Doherty to streak in at the corner, Cook was once again on the money with his conversion taking his points tally past the 1,000 mark in just three seasons at the club.

Then winger Grant Pointer got in on the action breaking a tackle he ran in at the clubhouse corner for the Pirates’ fourth try. Cook kept up his strike rate with another good kick for the extras.

With time almost up the Pirate’s drove another nail into Bristol’s hopes as Rimmer crashed over for his second try of the game, Cook’s final conversion clipped the upright and stayed out.

The final whistle came when replacement scrum-half Tom Kessell kicked a penalty out to the unreserved cheers of the Mennaye faithful.

Cornish Pirates: R. Cook, G. Pointer (M. Evans 76), S. Hill, A. Suniula, D. Doherty, C. Thomas, G. Cattle (capt, T. Kessell 79), B. Maidment (K. Marriott 44), P. Burgess (D. Ewers 76), C. Morgan, I. Nimmo, L. McGlone, A. Paver (R. Brits 79), D. Ward (R. Elloway 75), C. Rimmer (R. Storer 76).

Bristol Rugby: J. Goodridge, J. Tovey, O. Fautua, L. Eves, W. Helu, M. Jones (M. James 60), R. Tipuna, D. Montagu, J. Merriman, I. Grieve (H. Vanderglas), R. Winters, G. Townson (B. Glynn 5), J. Hobson (W. Thompson 27), J. Harris-Wright, M. Irish (M. Lilley 76).

Replacements (not used): T. Slater, T. Channon.

Scorers:- Cornish Pirates – tries: Rimmer (2), Cook, Doherty, Pointer; cons: Cook (4); pens: Cook (4) Bristol Rugby – tries: Helu (2), Merriman, cons: Jones (3); pen: Jones.

Referee: J. P. Doyle (RFU)

Attendance: 2,983

After the match a delighted Cornish Pirates skipper scrum-half Gavin Cattle gave his reaction tom his side’s tremendous win. Asked how he felt when his side found themselves 14-0 down early on. “I wasn’t too concerned as it happened early doors, I knew we could recover. I think half-time was the turning point for us. We said we needed to keep possession more rather than try to force the pass, we were perhaps trying to score too early in phase play, so we kept hold of the ball made them tackle us and then reaped the rewards as we were making positive gains, especially with the like of Laurie McGlone carrying. The forwards got us on the front foot and it went from there really, retaining the possession was the key for us.

“We realised that their forwards were blowing a bit towards the end, but I think we had the greater hunger for the game, we had that edge at the breakdown again giving us some good quality ball to attack with.

“I am really chuffed with the boys effort today, we kicked well used the space and played a really sensible game plan.

Cattle has no doubts that despite his side’s cushion it will be a tough game at the Memorial Ground next Sunday. “In the Championship game up there we had a nineteen point half-time lead and lost, we can’t afford to sit on our laurels and I know we won’t. In the group circle after the game we realised we had to calm down a bit as the job is only half done. We have to keep our feet firmly on the ground building up to Sunday.

 

Posted in Bill's Blog


YOU COULD WIN THE MATCH BALL

You could win tomorrow’s match ball signed by the Cornwall squad.

That’s the prize for the lucky bidder as Trelawny’s Army looks to raise funds for BBC Radio Cornwall’s Phoenix Stroke Appeal at the game tomorrow.

You can make a bid for what will be a much prized memento either by telephone to our Hon.Sec Ian Gordon on 01579 320670 (answer phone will take bids).

Bids need to be in by 6 pm on Sunday 6th May.

or

at our merchandising stand at the game please see our Chairman Phil Trevarton on the stand.

It is hoped to announce the winner of the match ball during commentary of the Cornish Pirates v Bristol game on Bank Holiday Monday 7th May.

 

Posted in Bill's Blog


CINDERFORD PROVIDE BULK OF GLOUCS SIDE TO FACE CORNWALL

National League 1 side Cinderford provide the bulk of Gloucestershire’s squad for Saturday’s opening Bill Beaumont Cup encounter against Cornwall at Redruth RFC kick-off 3 pm.

Team Manager Paul Morris (Cinderford) said: “We may not have had a warm up game like our opponents but all of our squad know each other and the majority play together in national one at Cinderford each week, so we feel motivated and confident in our ability to tackle Cornwall, another strong, traditional rugby county like ourselves.”

“I wish the boys well under the captaincy of Will Foden and thanks also to the team’s great coaches Matt Salter (Clifton, Bristol University) and John Barnes (Hartpury Academy) who have galvanised the side. Good luck.”

Gloucestershire (Cinderford unless stated): M Wilcox, N Codlin, R Winchle, S Rodwell (Hartpury). R Haile (Taunton), R Teague, S Arnott (Southend); J Smart, S Wilkes, N Selway (Lydney), D Wright (Rugby Lions), E King, L Allen, W Foden (Capt), B Walker (Hartpury).

Replacements: C Thompson (Old Patesians), C Meddick (Dings Crusaders) B Sparks, H Tovey (Clifton), S Plummer (Dings Crusaders), G Lewis (Hartpury), J Hannam (Lydney)

Posted in Bill's Blog


TASC COACH TO HERTS NEXT SATURDAY

We are putting on a coach to Hertford for next Saturday (12th May) match against Hertfordshire kick-off 2 pm.

Cost of transport is £42 per person.

The price DOES NOT include ground entry at Hertford RFC.

There will be details at our stall at Redruth on Saturday.

In 2009 our coaches to Twickenham were fully booked. Supporters who travel with us to Hertfordshire guarantee themselves a seat for the finals on Sunday 27th May 2012.

To book you seat for Saturday 12th May contact Bryan Llewellyn 01209 619646 mobile 07895089890 or e-mail transport.secretary@trelawnysarmy.org

Posted in Bill's Blog


CORNWALL TEAM TO FACE GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Cornwall have picked an exciting side to face Gloucestershire in this Saturday’s opening County Championship fixture at Redruth kick-off 3 pm.

Apart from skipper Ben Hilton our current player of the year, there are two former TASC player of the year recipients in the team, centre Ryan Westren and No.8 Sam Hocking.

In addition there is Bryn Jenkins (Cambridge) who has won our U.20 award in the past as has indeed Westren.

There will be added incentive too for prop Darren Jacques who’s wife presented him with a daughter on May Day. A win against old foes Gloucestershire would cap a fine week for the Redruth forward.

The back line shows three changes from the side that recently defeated Devon in the Tamar Cup at Launceston. In at outside centre comes Westren who has been in sparkling form at London Scottish since signing from the Cornish Pirates. On the wing comes Steve Johns from Plymouth Albion, whilst at scrum-half fit again Greg Goodfellow (Redruth) starts and partners Lewis Webb (Cornish All Blacks) at fly-half. Webb is going travelling so this will be one of his last games in Cornwall for a while.

In the pack Jenkins partners skipper Ben Hilton in the second row, whilst at No.8 Hocking (Plymouth Albion) comes in for Tom Duncan (Redruth) who drops to the bench.

The bench also sees Damien Cook (Redruth) return as second row cover and Dave Pascoe who last Saturday skippered the Royal Navy in their defeat against the Army in the Babcock Trophy at Twickenham as one of just two back replacements the other being Jake Murphy (Cornish All Blacks).

There is a late change Ryan Westren has been forced to pull-out due to a groin injury, Steve Johns switches from the wing to centre, Tom Notman (Redruth) comes in on the wing.

Cornwall: B Rule (Redruth), R Bright (Cornish All Blacks), L Paterson (Cornish All Blacks), S Johns (Plymouth Albion), T Notman (Redruth), L Webb (Cornish All Blacks), G Goodfellow (Redruth); D Jacques (Redruth), J Salter (Cornish All Blacks), C Williams (Redruth), B Hilton (Cornish All Blacks, Capt), B Jenkins (Cambridge), M Rawlings (Cornish All Blacks), T Rawlings (Cornish All Blacks), S Hocking (Plymouth Albion)

Replacements: D Pascoe (Penryn & Royal Navy), J Murphy (Cornish All Blacks), T Duncan (Redruth), R Brown (Redruth), P Joyce (Redruth), D Cook (Redruth), C Fuca (Redruth)

Posted in Bill's Blog


CORNWALL SKIPPER HILTON ISSUES CALL TO FANS

Just two league matches involving Cornish Clubs on the final Saturday of the league season, both in National League 2 South.

The Cornish All Blacks had the satisfaction of defeating the league winners Old Albanians 19-18.

It was Richard Bright who got the All Blacks’ try with Kieron Lewitt’s boot kicking the other points.

For Redruth a difficult finale up at Shelford with a few regulars missing for DoR Dave Penberthy’s final game in charge. A final score of 37-24 saw them finish in 6th place. Tom Duncan, Chris Fuca and Tom Notman got Redruth’s tries with Brett Rule kicking the other points.

Reds finished a point ahead of their local rivals Launceston who were 7th.

All eyes now turn to Redruth on Saturday when Cornwall will be looking to get their Bill Beaumont Cup campaign off to a great start when they take on Gloucestershire.

The Cornwall squad will be bouyed following their Tamar Cup win over Devon last Tuesday evening.

Skipper Ben Hilton has issued a call to the black and gold faithful. He said. “I urge all Cornwall doubters that have decided not to come to matches over the last couple of years to please come back, bring your children with you and have a family day out at Redruth.

“Launceston and Redruth have been through the mill over the last couple of years so let’s show the RFU how passionate we are about rugby down here.

“Games against Gloucestershire have been tough in the past, but hopefully this year will be our year.

“We will give it our best shot, so please come and support us and make Redruth a tough place for other teams to come to.”

Posted in Bill's Blog


TRELAWNY’S ARMY SUPPORTERS CLUB

Will once again be en-masse at Cornwall’s matches this season.

Our principal aim will be to support the team, however our involvement on the day goes further.

We will once again have our stand selling supporters gear at both Cornwall’s home matches this season.

Run by our merchandising secretary Marina Trevarton and her husband Phil, who also happens to be our chairman.

Funds raised from sales are used to support rugby around the county.

A recent example was a request to help with the purchase of medals for the Cornwall U.18 finals day at St. Austell, which we were more than happy to assist.

So if you see us at Redruth or Camborne then please come and say hello and have a browse.

Also this season Trelawny’s Army will be auctioning a match ball signed by the Cornwall squad after each of Cornwall’s home games this season.

The proceeds from the auction will be for the BBC Radio Cornwall Phoenix Stroke Appeal, a most worthy cause.

We thank the Cornwall RFU for their help in arranging the purchase and signing of the balls.

P.S. You can catch our stand tomorrow Saturday 28th April at Camborne’s Trevithick Day.

Posted in Bill's Blog


BENJI PLEASED WITH CUP WIN

CORNWALL head coach Dave ‘Benji’ Thomas was pretty pleased with the performance as the Duchy got their season off to a fine start with victory over old rivals Devon at Launceston.

It was the first time Cornwall had lifted the Tamar Cup since 2008, with four good tries, and 16 points from the boot of man-of-the-match Brett Rule, clinching the spoils.

It all bodes well for their County Championship opener against Gloucestershire at Redruth on Saturday week.

“We learnt a lot,” said Thomas. “We have never been better prepared than we are at the present time because of the training sessions we have had.

“We had a strong side out against Devon, and in the first half I thought we played really, really well, but in the second half perhaps we didn’t do all of the things we did in the first half, but there was still a lot of encouraging play from both forwards and backs.”

Posted in Bill's Blog


CORNWALL WREST BACK TAMAR CUP

Thanks to  Nigel Walrond at Polson Bridge

CORNWALL won the Tamar Cup for the first time in four years with a comfortable victory over old rivals Devon at Launceston last night.

The Duchy had a far stronger team on paper, with Devon not selecting any Exmouth or Brixham players prior to Saturday’s county cup final, and the visitors can be proud of their efforts to keep the scoreline pretty respectable, despite playing 20 minutes with only 14 men.

That extra Duchy strength was evident as early as the fifth minute, when back rower Mike Rawlings claimed a five-metre line-out, and his Cornish All Blacks team-mate Ben Hilton was driven over for a try to celebrate his appointment as Cornwall captain. Redruth full-back Brett Rule slotted the simple conversion.

Six minutes later, Rawlings turned creator again, with a burst down the right touchline before feeding the ball outside to All Blacks winger Richard Bright to race in at the corner.

Two Rule penalties in quick succession then put Cornwall 18 points up in almost as many minutes.

Newton Abbot fly-half Rob Avery-Wright broke Devon’s duck in the 22nd minute with a 30-metre penalty, and it got even better for the visitors just moments later when Barnstaple full-back Will Topps latched onto a bouncing ball and raced 40 metres to score in the corner to make it 18-8.

Rule punished Devon once more with his third penalty of the game after replacement lock Sam Harris had been sin-binned for hands in a ruck.

Devon briefly threatened, before the catch-and-drive line-out proved effective for the Duchy once again, with Redruth’s Chris Fuca claiming the throw-in and All Blacks flanker Tom Rawlings finishing off at the back of a powerful maul.

Rule converted superbly from the touchline to give the hosts a 28-8 interval lead.

Devon made four replacements at the break, with three of them in the pack, and it seemed to have the desired effect as they spent a period of time early in the second half pressing the Cornwall line, but the home defence held out.

Man-of-the-match Rule continued his impressive kicking form with his fourth penalty to take Cornwall over the 30-point mark and his personal tally to 16, but with changes aplenty on both sides, the match became pretty disjointed.

Rule then missed a relatively long-range penalty effort, but Devon continued to infringe, and referee Carl Bennett yellow-carded Plymouth Albion flanker James Harris.

Cornwall quickly capitalised on their one-man advantage, with a sweeping move rounded off in the right-hand corner by replacement winger Tom Notman after good work by Lewis Paterson.

Devon finished brightly though and managed a late consolation try through Avery-Wright, who returned to the pitch after being replaced at half-time to intercept a pass from Murphy, and added the conversion.

Cornwall 36 pts

Tries – Hilton, Bright, T Rawlings, Notman; Conversions – Rule (2); Penalties – Rule (4).

Devon 15 pts

Tries – Topps, Avery-Wright; Conversion – Avery-Wright; Penalty – Avery-Wright.

Yellow cards: Devon: S Harris 34, J Harris 66.

Cornwall (Cornish All Blacks unless stated): B Rule (Redruth), R Bright, L Paterson, J Murphy, A Struminski, L Webb, S Hawkey (Wadebridge Camels), D Jacques (Redruth), J Salter, C Williams (Redruth), B Hilton (capt), J Goldsworthy (Camborne), M Rawlings, T Rawlings, T Duncan (Redruth).

Replacements: C Fuca (Redruth) for M Rawlings 22 mins, S Parsons (Redruth) for S Hawkey 47, P Joyce (Redruth) for Williams 47, J Mann (Penryn) for T Duncan 47,

T Notman (Redruth) for R Bright 54, T Hurdwell for J Salter 57, M Shepherd (St Austell) for L Webb 66.

Devon: W Topps (Barnstaple), O Mulberry (UWIC), M Lee (Plymouth Albion), N Webber (Barnstaple), M Busch (Cullompton), R Avery-Wright (Newton Abbot), C Setter (UWIC); L Radford (Newton Abbot), S Roberts (Barnstaple), H Weekes (Cullompton), J Tripcony (Cornish All Blacks), BJ Chapman (Newton Abbot), W James (Barnstaple), P Mortimer (Newton Abbot, capt), S Richardson (Sidmouth).

Replacements: S Harris (Cullompton) for BJ Chapman 32, M Manton (Plymouth Alb) for H Weekes ht, T Channon (Bristol) for S Roberts ht, R Toms (Cullompton) for R Avery-Wright ht, J Harris (Plymouth Alb) for W James ht, T Whelan (Sidmouth) for N Webber 57, J Smith (Newton Abbot) for M Busch 57.

Referee: Carl Bennett.

TASC Paul Bawden Cornwall man-of-the-match: Brett Rule

Posted in Bill's Blog


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