REDRUTH 18 – 17 HARTPURY COLLEGE
Another nail-biter went down to the wire at the Rec on
Saturday as Redruth for the second home match running had a late penalty to win
the game.
Two weeks ago the penalty effort failed, this time centre
Jamie Semmens, who was forced into goal kicking duties as fly-half Brett Rule
had just limped off, calmly slotted his kick between the posts to put Redruth
18-17 up.
The drama didn’t end there as a further passage of play
saw Hartpury College’s winger Ian Clarke red-carded for striking Redruth
scrum-half Greg Goodfellow.
Semmens kicked the resulting penalty out and referee Tom
Davies blew the final whistle to end a dramatic finale.
It certainly was an entertaining match between two sides
who had never met before.
Hartpury took an early lead through fly-half’s Tim
Stevenson’s 2nd minute penalty.
Redruth stormed back taking play into the Hartpury
twenty-two, a sustained period of pressure saw the Redruth pack drive the
visitors back over their own try-line, as Hartpury kicked the ball out of the
scrum, referee Davies had no hesitation in awarding a penalty-try, which Brett
Rule converted.
Redruth increased their lead soon after withRule adding a
penalty, as Hartpury went offside.
Hartpury had shown signs that they were no pushovers,
after 21 minutes they levelled the scores as Stevenson went in for a try which
he also converted.
Stevenson and Rule both missed with penalty chances to
increase the score. Redruth also came close to scoring a try through winger Tom
Notman.
Up to half-time it stayed at 10-10.
Rule was unlucky with a penalty attempt just after the
break which struck the post.
Redruth finally got reward for their possession with a
fine try scored in the Piggy lane corner by Notman following good work from
Lewis Vinnicombe, who had replaced winger Nathan Pedley, and flanker Chris
Fuca.
Rule couldn’t add the extras from the difficult touchline
conversion.
With just a five point advantage Redruth were in danger
of a Hartpury reaction and it duly arrived following a big forward drive by the
pack which saw prop Richard Barrington driven over, Stevenson’s conversion
giving the visitors a 17-15 advantage.
Redruth dug deep and threw everything at Hartpury. A
great kick out of defence by Vinnicombe helped set up the position from which
Semmens kicked the winning points.
Redruth 18 pts
Tries – Penalty-try, Notman, Penalties – Rule, Semmens,
Conversion – Rule
Hartpury College 17 pts
Tries – Stevenson, Barrington, Penalty – Stevenson,
Conversions – Stevenson (2)
Red Card – Clarke (80)
Referee: Tom Davis (RFU)
