By Bill Hooper at Camborne Rec. Photos by Simon Bryant Iktis photo.
Cornwall Under 20’s great start to this season’s County Championship campaign was just the tonic the squad needed and put to rest the disappointment felt by those involved last season.
No question that the 50-19 defeat by Gloucestershire at the same ground last March was a result that had clawed in the Cornish camp over the summer.
The result and the performance was just what coach Ian Morgan and the rest of the Cornwall coaches Mike Rawlings and Bryn Jenkins dreamed of. Morgan spoke after the game: “We couldn’t have scripted a better start, we knew Gloucestershire would come at us from the off and we spoke of dominating the opening period during the warm up but to go 17-0 up after 15 minutes was the dream start for us and to be fair they didn’t look like threatening us until they made a couple of changes and we conceded a soft try towards half-time.”
Photo – Camel Jake Woodward dives in for try number two
“We controlled the game really well, our forwards went well and I was pleased to see our backs looking so sharp, there were times when we fell foul of the referee but I think that was more of a timing issue we were so keen to get out of the blocks. We had a couple of players in the bin, but I felt that Gloucestershire were fortunate not to lose at least one player to the bin on the ‘tip-tackle’ that wasn’t called.”
Morgan was delighted with the performance of Redruth fly-half Dan Rutter who ran the game: “I thought Dan had a very good game for us he kicked us into position at fly-half and then moved to scrum-half when Zac Noeda was binned, he showed great control and maturity and was one of our standout players today he’s got a level head on him and his vision of the game is excellent.”
Photo – All Black Tom Sandercock dives in at Camborne’s West Bank for try number four
However, it was Camborne flanker Neil Stanleick who picked up the most plaudits: “He is an awesome player he just keeps going forward all the time, he is player with a great potential who could well have a very good career in years to come.”
“Skipper Todd Prisk and hooker Locryn Williams also had big games today, whilst Rhys Brownfield in the centre kicked well and took his try very well.”
Photo – Pirates Amateurs Rhys Brownfield kicks another successful conversion
“Now we have a little bit of break before we take on Devon, we will have another game with Camborne School of Mines in the New Year to get us back together and then a few training sessions to get the preparations right for Ivybridge.”