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.

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)

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

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!!