The Cornish Pirates travelled to the west of Ireland to take on Connacht Eagles in their opening British & Irish pool 3 ties.
The Sports ground had staged a remarkable Champions Cup tie the day before which saw Connacht come from behind to defeat the once mighty Toulouse 23-21 in front of a packed crowd, sadly there was no such crowd bar some hardy individuals who had survived the night before and a few stalwarts from Kernow who had made the journey across the Irish Sea.
Still they were entertained to a great Cornish Pirates win on Irish soil 23-10. Tries came via Sam Simmonds Dan Lee and Jake Parker with Laurence May kicking eight points in the tricky breeze.
Good to see Matt Bolwell making a welcome return following injury and mark his fiftieth appearance for the Pirates.
Sunday sees the second round of games in the pool stage with Ospreys Premiership Select being the visitors to the Mennaye.
There was a full program of games in National league 2 South with Redruth making the long trip to Bury St. Edmunds and returning home with the win following their 35-22 win.
The Reds tries came through Shaun Buzza, Chris Fuca, Nielson Webber and Lewis Vinnicombe with Brett Rule kicking three conversions and three penalties.
Sadly Jack Oulton was red carded which probably means we’ve seen the last of him prior to his travelling plans.
In Tribute Cornwall League there was also a full program with Hayle defeating Veor 15-6 to go top.
Former leaders Liskeard-Looe went down at Newquay Hornets in a close tussle 20-18. Hornets are storming up the table despite their points dediction carried over from last season.
Camborne School of Mines had a good win on the Saracens pitch at Penryn defeating Roseland 34-7.
St. Agnes won at Stithians 29-17 and there wins too for Redruth Albany at Camelford 15-7, Helston at home to Lankelly-Fowey 69-7 and Perranporth who defeated St. Just 40-7 at Ponsmere Valley.
It was the Tribute Cornwall RFU Cup 1st round ties with Penryn last season’s finalists defeating Pirates Amateurs 40-0. Saltash won at Bodmin 36-23, whilst Falmouth had a bye against Lanner.
The Quarter-finals to be played on Saturday 12th November are thus;
Truro v St. Ives
Penryn v Falmouth
St. Austell v Bude
Saltash v Wadebridge Camels
Some sad news to end on, Ron Glazsher who played 41 times for Cornwall between the years 1962-71 sadly passed away recently. Ron, a very tall player who packed down either No.8 or lock, and after St. Lukes College he played principally for Plymouth Albion but also had spells with both Penryn and Cross Keys in Wales.
He played for Penryn during their centenary season in 1972 and was part of the side that defeated the famous Harlequins at the Memorial Ground just before Christmas that year packing down in the second row with John “Cheyenne” Blackburn. The same combination featured for Penryn in their RFU Knock Out Cup Quarter-final against London Welsh in the following March.
An England trialist, he also represented and captained the RAF and Combined Services, playing the All Blacks in 1963 at Twickenham for the Combined Services in a game the tourists won 23-9.
The same year he also faced the touring All Blacks with Cornwall & Devon at Exeter in a game the combined counties lost 38-6.
Further representative honours saw him captain Cornwall & Devon against the Wallabies at Camborne in 1967 when the tourists won 11-6.
He captained Cornwall in the 1966-67 season, when they eventually lost in the semi-finals of the County Championship to Surrey after a second replay at Redruth 14-3, the previous enthralling two games been drawn 6-6 at Redruth and 14-14 at Richmond, a series of games that has gone down in Cornish rugby folklore.
Trelawny’s Army Supporters Club wishes to send it’s condolences to Ron’s family and friends at this sad time.