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)

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.”

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.

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.”

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 22^nd 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

It’s the TAMAR CUP tonight at Polson Bridge, CORNWALL V DEVON.

It’s £5 ground admission with U.16’s free when accompained by a paying adult.

Team News Cornwall.

Matt Shepherd (St. Austell) is a late change on the replacement bench with Shaun Hawkey (Wadedridge Camels) dropping out.

CORNWALL: Brett Rule (Redruth), Richard Bright, Jake Murphy, Lewis Paterson, Aron Struminski, Lewis Webb (all Cornish All Blacks), Gregg Goodfellow, Darren Jacques (both Redruth), Jamie Salter (Cornish All Blacks), Craig Williams (Redruth), Ben Hilton (Cornish All Blacks, capt), James Goldsworthy (Camborne), Mike Rawlings, Tom Rawlings (both All Blacks), Tom Duncan (Redruth)

Replacements: Sam Parsons, Tom Notman, Peter Joyce (all Redruth), Tom Hurdwell (All Blacks), Chris Fuca (Redruth), James Mann (Penryn), Matt Shepherd (St. Austell)

DEVON: W Topps (Barnstaple), O Mulberry (Uwic), J Bull (Cullompton), J Squires (Barnstaple), J Smith (Newton Abbott), R Avery-Wright (Newton Abbott), C Setter (Uwic); T Channon (Bristol), S Roberts (Barnstaple), H Weekes (Barnstaple), J Tripcony (Cornish All Blacks), BJ Chapman (Newton Abbott), W James (Barnstaple), P Mortimer (Newton Abbott, capt), S Richardson (Sidmouth)

Replacements: M Manton (Plymouth Albion), L Radford (Newton Abbott), S Harris (Cullompton), N Webber (Barnstaple), T Whelan (Sidmouth), R Toms (Cullompton), S Persey (Cullompton), L Brock (Barnstaple)

IT WAS A DAY OF HIGH EMOTION AT REDRUTH on Saturday as Redruth Director of Rugby took charge at home for the final time. The team overcame the events of the day to record a hard-fought 21-17 win over a side battling relegation.  There is still the small matter of the final game away at Shelford next Saturday, but this was the big celebration of his time at Redruth.

He richly deserved the standing ovation he was afforded by the Redruth supporters prior to the match. There were as you would expect numerous presentations made to him on the day and he was humbled by the numerous messages he had received prior to the game. It was also good to see Nigel Hambly present along with former players such as Richard Carroll, the Whitworth brothers and many others.

After the final whistle Penberthy reflected a little on his time at the club, if ever the term man and boy was appropriate then this was it. Asked about his favourite role over the years he answered unequivocally. “This, being involved with this group of players, skipper Craig Bonds has been here the whole ten years, so he knows what I am talking about. We built something very special between us and it is only me and the players that know what that is. The fun that we have had travelling the length and breadth of England, thousands of miles together. Whatever I have asked of them they have done it, you can’t ask for more than that.

Asked about his favourite trip over the years.“Wharfedale. Fantastic place, beautiful setting, with some great people. It was always a two night trip and the clubhouse up there is so hospitable. Tough place to play and they played a similar style to us, always the trip I looked forward the most to”.

Looking forward Penberthy feels that the club is in good hands with Adrian Edwards taking over next season. “There is a good group of players here, no doubt Adrian will bring in some players. I am sure he will build on what we have and take the club on again”.

You can read Bill Sobey’s match report from the Western Morning News in the link

The Cornish All Blacks completed their away program on a high with a 17-10 win at Taunton. Their final game at Polson on Saturday will be against champions elect Old Albanians, it promises to be a titanic tussle. Kieron Lewitt and Jake Murphy scored the All Blacks’ tries with Lewitt adding both conversions and a penalty.

It’s all over in the Tribute regional leagues. In Tribute South West 1 West, all our sides won on the final day. Camborne won 24-14 at Cullompton thanks to tries from Sam Matavesi, Dean Pascoe and Steve Kenward. Dave Mankee and Grant Thirlby kicking the points.

Wadebridge Camels defeated play-off hopefuls Avonmouth Old Boys 18-13 at the Molesworth Field. Tries from skipper Gary Gynn and hooker Matt Ballard and two conversions and a penalty from James Grubb saw them end the season on a high.

Though condemned to swift return to Tribute Western Counties West next season, Penryn finished on a high defeating Oldfield Old Boys 24-17 at the Memorial Park. Grant Randlesome Ben Keay and George Jones got the Borough’s tries with Taron Peacock kicking the other points. The game marked the end of coach Adryan Winnan’s tenure as he is stepping down due to work commitments.

In Tribute Western Counties West, St. Austell had a walkover against Ivybridge as the Devonians had no front row replacements, the match was played as friendly with the Saints winning 33-0.

St. Ives bid farewell to this level with an encouraging 46-31 win over Exeter Saracens Neil Corin getting three of the Hakes six tries.

Truro thumped Bude 60-22 at St. Clements scoring nine tries.

Tribute Cornwall and Devon League saw only one Cornish win and that was Falmouth at Veor 24-22 a result which sees Veor relegated to Cornwall 1 next season.

Newquay Hornets lost 47-7 at champions Tavistock, whilst Hayle lost at Totnes 27-26. Plymouth Barbarians ensured survival defeating Pirates Amateurs 33-3 and Liskeard/Looe lost at Teignmouth 39-15.

In the play-off for promotion to the Cornwall & Devon League next season between the runners-up in both Cornwall 1 and Devon 1 OPM’s won at Helston 20-19. Helston were the only Cornish side to make a play-off for promotion this season.

The Cornish Pirates finished their play-off pool matches with a 42-25 defeat at Leeds Carnegie. The result was immaterial as the Pirates had already qualified for the semi-finals, which will see them host Bristol at the Mennaye on Monday 7th May with 12-05 pm kick-off. The return at the Memorial Ground will be on Sunday 13th May with 12-45 pm kick-off.

You can catch Dick Straughan’s match report in the link

Well done to Wadebridge Camels Colts who won the Premiership Cup Final at St. Austell on Sunday defeating Truro 26-19.

The Spanish RFU Cup Final (Copa del Rey) was played on Sunday in Palencia Northern Spain between the cup holders  Cetransa El Salvador and Ordizia from the Spanish Basque region, who were appearing in their first final. In the Ordizia side two Cornishmen Tom Parker and Toby Freeman.

Despite trailing at half-time 21-8 Ordizia staged a tremendous fightback in the second half helped in no small margin by two tries from No.8 Freeman who was named man-of-the-match, to win 30-27.

It was good to see among the Basque flags the flag of St. Piran being carried around the stadium by Parker as his team went on a lap of honour with the cup.

Tomorrow night it’s the TAMAR CUP at Polson, Cornwall v Devon. Ground tickets are £5 with accompained U.16’s getting in free.

BIG SUPPORT FOR CORNWALL TOMORROW PLEASE!!

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for the fans of the Cornish Pirates, defeat in the semi-final of the British & Irish Cup up in the Welsh Valleys in Cross Keys. Then the news that High Performance Manager Chris Stirling had decided to take up a position with the New Zealand RFU as thier High Performance Talent Indentification Manager, so in future years we will see All Blacks that Chris has identified and brought on to wear the famous silver fern.

Listening to Chris’ reasons for taking up the new role, you couldn’t help but feel that the prolonged, protracted negotiations over delivering the Stadium for Cornwall had played a major part in his decision to call it quits and head back home.

If any good can come from his departure then maybe the Councillors at County Hall will sit up and take heed of what has happened….and get on with it pronto!

So yesterday’s vital match against the Bedford Blues (Pirates bete-noir this season) was the popular Kiwi’s final match in charge before flying back to New Zealand to take up the new role.

Pirates’ win by 21-20 was enough to secure qualification for the semis before the final round of play-off matches at Leeds next weekend.

You can read Bill Sobey’s match report from the Western Morning News in the link  you can also read the post match reaction in this next link

It was disappointing to read some inaccurate reporting in the Rugby Paper on Sunday. Their piece about Pirates’ Dave Ward signing for Harlequins stated that plans for the Stadium for Cornwall had collapsed. This, as all involved with Cornish rugby matters will know, is simply not the case. It was disappointing to see this mis-information at a time when plans are clearly on-going as we push for a quick and satisfactory conclusion to this vital project for the benefit of Cornwall!

In National League 2 South, the Cornish All Blacks, despite having skipper Tom Rawlings and lock Ben Hilton absent as they were on duty at Josh Lord’s wedding (Congratulations to Mr & Mrs Lord), comfortably defeated visitors Hertford 33-11 with tries from Jake Murphy, Lewis Paterson and a brace from Kyle Moyle, to grab all five league points.

Redruth, on the other hand, had their away day face on, losing up at Southend 47-14. No.8 Tom Duncan got a couple of tries with Craig “Eggy” Williams kicking the conversions. No doubt the Reds will want to put on a show for the home fans in their final home game of the season on Saturday at home to Westcombe Park, in what will be Director of Rugby Dave Penberthy’s final game at the Rec before stepping down at the end of the season. It promises to be an afternoon of high emotion.

In Tribute South West 1 West Brixham received the shield for winning the league when the defeated relegated Penryn 60-12. Skipper Sam Harrison and Sean Johnson scored tries for the Borough as the Fishermen celebrated in style.

Wadebridge Camels maitained ther fine form with a 57-0 win over relegated Chosen Hill Former Pupils. Dominic Hawkey grabbing three of the Camels’ eight tries.

Camborne rounded off their home program with a fine 50-23 win over Sidmouth also scoring eight tries shared between forwards and backs.

In Tribute Western Counties West, St. Austell won well at Exeter Saracens 36-14 to record the only Cornish win of the day in this league. Truro lost at Bideford 37-15, whilst Bude lost at Bencoolen 20-10 to Torquay Athletic. Troubled St. Ives had to forfiet the match and points to Champions Wellington.

London Cornish finished their league campaign with a disappointing defeat at home to Camberley 20-15. Cornish still finished fourth in London 2 SW and will no doubt look to improve next season.

In Tribute Cornwall & Devon League, Hayle having lost at Torrington to already relegated Torrington the week before got their revenge with a comfortable 40-7 win.

Falmouth Eagles ran riot at the Rec defeating Totnes 81-3 with Gareth Lever getting a hat-tick of tries and three other players a brace each!

Liskeard/Looe pushed runners-up Tavistock all the way at Lux Park before losing 15-11, whilst Pirates Amateurs lost at Withycombe 29-13. Veor lost at Crediton 24-22, they need a win in their final game at home to final and hope that Pirates Amateurs can do them a favour at Plymouth Barbarians. The Plymouth side lost at Newquay Hornets 33-6.

Hats off this week to Exeter Chiefs who with their fine win at Worcester Warriors 31-26 have secured a spot in next season’s Heineken Cup!

Now about that Stadium for Cornwall…………………….!

THE CORNISH PIRATES followed up their win at the Mennaye over Rotherham Titans with a 17-14 win over the same opponents at Clifton Lane on Saturday.

A result which keeps them handily placed for the RFU Championship semi-finals. Flanker Phil Burgess scored the Pirates’ try with full back Rob Cook slotting four penalties.

A big plus for the Pirates in recent weeks has been the improved form of fly half Ceiron Thomas.

The news off the pitch today is the club confirming the speculation in the Rugby Paper yesterday that centre Drew Locke has signed for Aviva Premiership side Gloucester next season. The possibility remains that this could be the first of a number of player exits at the end of the current campaign with the continued uncertainty over planning for the construction of the Stadium for Cornwall not helping matters.  Until  the stadium gets the greenlight and the Pirates have a clear pathway to the Premiership then holding on to talented players will be increasingly difficult.

Next Saturday sees the Pirates travel to Pandy Park to take on Cross Keys in an eagerly anticipated British & Irish Cup semi-final, before resuming the Championship play-offs the following week with the visit to the Mennaye of Bedford Blues.

Dick Straughan’s WMN match report is available in the link.

In National League 2 South a mixed bag for our two Cornish Clubs. I don’t think the end of the season can come quick enough for Redruth as once again they fell off badly up at Clifton. Outgoing Director of Rugby Dave Penberthy summed it up pretty well when he said. “We never got going!”

A promising start fell away and the Reds travelled back down the M5 with just a losing bonus point from a 31-24 loss.

It could have gone horribly wrong for the Cornish All Blacks up at Barnes, at one point they were down to thirteen men with centre Lewis Paterson and lock Ben Hilton in the bin. Hilton had scored the All Blacks first try was later to get a red card for second yellow card offence. Richard Bright got the All Blacks’ second try enabling them to get the win 20-13.

In Tribute South West 1 West. Wadebridge Camels enusered they will be playing at this level again next season with 29-20 win at Thornbury, thanks to tries from Ashley Rescorla, Matt Ballard, James Grubb and Shaun Hawkey. A win that will set them up nicely for the CRFU Cornwall Cup Final on Saturday against St. Austell at Penryn.

Camborne ran riot up at Chosen Hill winning by 83-12, scoring twelve tries. After the disappointing results of late this was a shot in the arm for the Cherry and Whites, who will hope to win back the Rodda’s Milk Cup at Redruth on Easter Monday.

Penryn showed good pride in defeating fellow relegation candiates Berry Hill 34-8 at the Memorial Ground. Borough will look to bounce back in Western Counties West next season.

In Tribute Western Counties West, St. Austell geared up for the CRFU Cornwall Cup Final with a 13-6 win over Wellington at Tregorrick Park, thanks to a try from Ian Venner and the boot of Matt Shepherd. Truro had a good win at St. Clements against Devonport Services 32-8 scoring six tries with a brace from Justyn Irons.

Bude lost at relegation haunted Tiverton 41-24, whilst St. Ives had their fate sealed losing at Alexandra Road 36-0 to champions North Petherton

In the Tribute Cornwall & Devon League, Veor’s loss at home to Withycombe 18 – 16 leaves them still in the drop zone back to Cornwall 1. Liskeard/Looe did themselves a favour with a 19-10 win at Plymouth Barbarians, which should see them safe.

Pirates Amateurs had a good win over Newquay Hornets 42-14 and Falmouth won at doomed Torrington 27-11. Hayle lost at third placed Teignmouth 48-14.

In the final game of the seson in Tribute Cornwall 1 Saltash defeated St. Just for the second week running this time 36-0. Both sides meet again on Saturday in the Tribute Cornwall RFU Clubs Cup Final at Penryn. Somehow I reckon it will be a lot closer!

So Easter is almost upon us, once upon a time the season for touring sides to head to Cornwall. There will still be a couple of hardy visitors, Old Dunstonians returning for their 78th Easter Tour, with games against Penryn, Falmouth and Truro and Imperial Medics continous tourists at Easter since 1925.

As mentioned previously it’s Tribute Cornwall RFU Cup Finals Day on Easter Saturday at Penryn RFC

Clubs Cup Final Saltash v St. Just kick off 1-15 pm

Cornwall Cup Final Wadebridge Camels v St. Austell kick-off 3-45 pm

Entrance £5

Club bars open

Also at Penryn on Easter Sunday is the Penryn Easter 7’s

Easter Monday the old foes lock horns again as Redruth take on Camborne for the Rodda’s Milk Cup kick -off 3 pm.

ANSOME is a word used in Cornwall meaning “All is well with the world”, and this past weekend the weather was certainly ‘ansome!

It was almost as balmy as the South of France, and we all know how the French love to “thraw the ball around” in such conditions. Well the two games I saw over the weekend saw plenty of that.

Ten tries at Redruth on Saturday as Old Albanians, ably marshalled by former Cornish Pirate James Shanahan at fly-half put on a fine display to run-out winners by 40-27, to inflict Redruth’s third loss at home this season. A win that took the Hertfordshire side to the top of the National League 2 South table, as previous leaders Richmond surprisingly slipped up at Polson against the Cornish All Blacks 18-16.

The CRFU were out in force at the Rec checking out potential opponents when Cornwall travel to play Hertfordshire in June, as were members of Trelawny’s Army.

Congratulations to Paul Thirlby who led the Reds out on his 200th club game.

You can read my report on the match together with comments and reaction from both Dave Penberthy and James Shanahan  in the link. 

So up at Polson the Cornish All Blacks defeated Richmond 18-16 with two tries scored by Richard Bright and Aron Struminski, both these players are in the Cornwall squad currently training for the start of the County Championship. To think that the All Blacks final league game of the season at Polson will be against Old Albanians. A game of potentially huge significance.

Match report from Polson in the link 

The Tamar Cup against Cornwall v Devon will be played at Launceston’s Polson Bridge ground on Tuesday evening 24th April kick-off 7-30 pm. Cornwall are likely to field a strong side as they prepare for their opening Bill Beaumont Cup match against Gloucestershire at Redruth on Saturday 5th May, kick-off 3-00 pm.

After a draw and a nail-biting loss, the Cornish Pirates got a well-deserved win 25 – 17 yesterday in the sunshine at the Mennaye against a Rotherham Titan’s side on a high after their win at Leeds. Two tries from winger Grant Pointer and solo effort from skipper Gavin Cattle along with the reliable boot of Rob Cook steered the Pirates home. Former Cornish All Black Pale Nonu featured well for Rotherham and he could well be involved for Cornwall in this season’s County Championship.

Catch Dick Straughan’s match report in the link

In Tribute South West 1 West, Wadebridge Camels confirmed their Cup win over Camborne with a league win over the Cherry & Whites at the Molesworth Field by 37-5 with skipper Gary Gynn helping himself to a try hat-trick. The win secures the Camels place in the league for next season.

For Penryn it now looks like a swift return to Western Counties West next season as they lost at Avonmouth by 46-10.

In Western Counties West, St. Austell lost heavily at leaders North Petherton 54-0. Truro consolidated their mid-table position with a 36-20 win at St. Clements over Torquay Athletic.

Bude won a Cornish derby against St. Ives 50-11, a result which seals the Hakes fate and relegation to the Cornwall & Devon League next season.

In London 2 SW, a good win for London Cornish at Bognor 18-7. Read DoR Dickon Moon’s report in the link

In the Cornwall & Devon League there were wins for Falmouth against Teignmouth 19-14, and Veor who beat Totnes 29-17. Losses for Newquay Hornets at Withycombe 24-5 and Hayle at home to second place Tavistock 24-16. Liskeard/Looe and Pirates Amateurs fought out a 17 all draw at Lux Park.

A plug for St.Agnes RFC who are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year as well as having just been crowned champions of Tribute Cornwall 2. They have a prestigious gala match against Wasps Legends on Saturday May 12th at their Enys Parc ground. Tickets can be brought for the day at the Hall for Cornwall Box Office.