Redruth’s fine win on Saturday against an already relegated Halifax side puts them 17 points clear of Henley Hawks the nearest side in the relegation zone with a maximum 20 points to play for. Following the disappointment of their trip to Westcombe Park the Reds owed it to themselves and their supporters to put in a strong performance. Six tries scores in a 38-3 win sent the crowd homeward bound in a happy mood. Tries came through the Thirlby brothers Rob and Paul scoring one a-piece with No 8 Mark Bright claiming a brace, PJ Gidlow and a penalty try award. Returning fly-half Gareth Griffiths kicked four conversions to complete the scoring.
Head coach Nigel Hambly gave starts to some of his squad players, with Ben Fox and Steve Wood starting in the backrow and Simon Peters in the centre. Wood had a stand out game playing his heart out. The only cloud was the injury to lock Damien Cook who went off with a knee injury after 16 mins.
Down the road at the Mennaye, Mount’s Bay played what is likely to be their penultimate home game of the season (assuming of course that they gain automatic promotion and are not involved in the play-off), scoring ten tries in a 64 – 12 win over Luton. The tries flowed like champagne with Ben Hilton (2), Tyron Child (2), Adam Nicholls (2), Jon Marlin, Tim Mosey (2) and Andrew Cheung-Fook all scoring. Lee Jarvis kicked seven conversions. With just three games left to play Bay are now 8 points clear of Cinderford who they play at the Mennaye on April 12th.
The only other league game concerning a Cornish club was Camborne who at the third time of asking completed their fixture at St. Mary’s Old Boys. Camborne were unable to build on their success from last week going down 15-8, Rob Floyd scored the try and Josh Matavesi dropped the goal.
On Sunday at Launceston, Cornwall reclaimed the Tamar Cup in a tight match by 10-7 over old rivals Devon. Cornwall’s try was scored by Cornish All Blacks’ Sam Hocking with Camborne’s David Mankee kicking the conversion and a penalty.
According to the Australian RFU website it appears that the Wallabies match against the Barbarians due to be played at Wembley Stadium to commerate their winning the 1908 Rugby gold medal at the London Olympics of that year against Cornwall will take place on Wednesday 3rd December, with an evening kick-off. It’s going to be very difficult for a large Cornish present to be there but I hope that as many as possible can go along to the game, to remember the achievement of that Cornish side 100 years ago. It is very much a part of our local rugby folklore.
