Cornwall are through to the quarter-final of the County Championship, but will have to correct some weaknesses before next week in order to stand a realistic chance of beating a strong Devon side at Plymouth.
Cornwall scored first, after only five minutes, when Andy Hymans crossed following good work by the forwards. Larkins missed the conversion. At this stage, the large contingent of Trelawny's Army basking in the sunshine looked forward to a Cornish try-fest. However, the game was to be a lot closer than the scoreline suggests.
Playing against the wind and a slight slope, for long periods of the first half Cornwall were penned in their own half. The strengths and weaknesses of the Cornish game were plain to everyone. The pack, based on the Launceston front five, aided by Penzance/Newlyn's Penrose, Bearman, and Carroll, were solid in the scrums and effective in the loose. Worcester's Ricky Pellow at scrum-half was calm and efficient. Outside, Penzance/Newlyn's Mark Richards and Rocky Newton looked dangerous on the rare occasions they received the ball in space. The glaring weakness in the Cornish game was at the line out, where Cornwall struggled all afternoon to win their own ball. And Penzance/Newlyn's talented young James Hawken, playing out of position at fly-half, looked hesitant.
In the last quarter of the first half, Surrey broke through on the right to score a converted try and take the lead at 7-5.
In the second half, playing with the wind, it was Cornwall's turn to have the territorial advantage. However, the game was not made safe until the final ten minutes. Steve Larkins landed a penalty, which was quickly cancelled out by one to Surrey. The sides exchanged further penalties to take the score to 13-11 to Surrey. When Steve Larkins hit first one post and then the other with failed penalty attempts, we wondered whether it was to be Surrey's day. Then Cornwall scored an unconverted try, followed by a Larkins penalty, and suddenly Cornwall were 19-13 ahead. The game was still not safe. Surrey pressed forward.
The game was sealed in Cornwall's favour by two fine tries late in the game. Following good forward pressure on the left, the ball was whipped across the field for a score in the right corner. Finally came what was possibly the try of the game. Mark Richards burst on to the ball on the Surrey 10 metre line and chose a superb angle of running to power his way through the Surrey defence and score in the left-hand corner.
So the game finished 29-13 to Cornwall. It was a mixed performance. If Cornwall can sharpen up their line-out and half-back play, they have the basis of a very good side here.
S. Larkins (Redruth, Captain), A. Hyman (Redruth), M. Richards (Penzance & Newlyn), S. Kirman (Redruth), R. Newton (Penzance & Newlyn), J. Hawken (Penzance & Newlyn), R. Pellow (Worcester), P. Risdon (Plymouth Albion), B. Lucas (Launceston), S. Rush (Launceston), G. Hutchings (Launceston), J. Wilce (Launceston), C. Hammond (Launceston), K. Penrose (Penzance & Newlyn), J. Bearman (Penzance & Newlyn).
Replacements: D. Risdon (Launceston), D. Moyle (Truro), R. Carroll (Penzance & Newlyn), J. Lancaster (Redruth), J. Arnold (Redruth), T. Sincock (Redruth), C. Bonds (Redruth).
Cornwall overcame Surrey in Esher by 29-13, in a scrappy performance that will not linger for long in the supporters' memories. On a dry sunny day and a firm pitch, and in front of 400 spectators, 90% supporting the boys in black and gold, Cornwall gave a disjointed display, like a team that has yet to gel. Cornwall began the match well, with Redruth’s South African player Andy Hymans going over in the corner after 4 minutes, following a catch and drive from a lineout deep in the Surrey 22. Steve Larkins conversion attempt failed. It was to prove to be a mixed day for Larkins goal kicking, mirroring the performance of his team.
The buzz around the ground was that Cornwall had the measure of the Surrey team and that more scores would follow rapidly. Cornwall attempted to play a running game. However, all to often movements broke down, and support was not always at the breakdown in time or in sufficient numbers. The game also suffered from numerous stoppages for injuries, especially cuts. Launceston’s veteran second row Glyn Hutchings needed stitches in a nasty eyebrow injury. As the half wore on and Cornwall failed to add to their score, the uneasy feeling crept in that Surrey could sneak back in to the game from their scraps of possession. Towards the end of the half Surrey had some good passages of play. The Cornish defence kept them out. However, just before half time supporters' fears were confirmed when Surrey scored a try from their flank forward Jim Hayes, following a lineout in the Cornwall 22. A catch and drive saw the Surrey pack drive over the line and Hayes coming up with the ball. Paul Dunckley converted from out wide to give Surrey a half time lead of 7-5.
Cornwall needed to up the pace in the second half to wrest back the lead. Steve Larkins kicked an early penalty goal to give the Duchy the lead once more. However, the lead see-sawed with Dunckley and Larkins exchanging penalties. At 13-11 to Surrey, Cornwall coach Nick Brokenshire made a triple replacement, Bonds, Risdon, and Lancaster coming on for Hymans, Risdon, and Hammond.
As the game went into the final quarter, Cornwall manufactured a try for Penzance & Newlyn No 8 Joe Bearman, after good work from fly half Hawken. The Cornish boys' superior fitness was beginning to tell. Larkins then kicked a monster penalty goal from near half way to put Cornwall 19-13 up. Larkins failed with another penalty attempt, which came back from an upright. With time running out, Cornwall ran the ball from just inside their own half. A pass from Hawken to Newton was almost intercepted by a Surrey player, before Pirates center Mark Richards rounded off the move in the corner. Larkins conversion was wide. Deep into injury time, Richards scored his second try to seal a Cornish win by 29-13. The Cornish supporters gave their team a huge cheer, more in relief than for a resounding victory.
The selectors for the England Counties XV slipped away knowing not much more than before the kick off from this disappointing performance. They will no doubt be in Devon to cast another eye over potential squad members for the tour to Chile in June. Incidentally, Chile last weekend qualified for the final round of qualifying in the Americas' section for next years world cup in Australia.
Nick Brokenshire will no doubt put the boys through a couple of tough training sessions this week to try and iron out the problems in time for next Saturday's match against Devon at Beacon Park Plymouth, which will be a formidable hurdle for Cornwall.
The fact that it’s Devon and a semi final beckons should be incentive enough. This result also means that Cornwall will keep a Top 16 place for next season's County Championship proper.
Cornwall Scorers; Tries, Hymans, Bearman, Richards (2). Penalties, Larkins (3)
Surrey Scores; Try, Hayes. 1 Conversion and 2 Penalties Dunckley
The omens were not good for Cornwall. With one exception, the Devon side was composed entirely of First Division players from Exeter Chiefs, Plymouth Albion, and Henley Hawks. The previous week, Devon had run in nine tries against Cumbria. And a torrential downpour before and during the match turned the field into a quagmire that seemed to favour the heavy Devon pack at the expense of the Cornish running game. Nevertheless, the large crowd of 3000-plus Cornish supporters standing in the rain was determined to roar their side to victory.
The only changes in the Cornwall side from last week's game against Surrey were at centre, where Craig Bonds replaced his Redruth colleague Andy Hymans, and at lock, where Lee Soper (of Worcester and the Army) replaced Glyn Hutchings.
Although both sides tried to open up the game at times, it quickly developed into a forward battle. The big Devon pack had a slight edge in the scrum, but the Cornish were quicker to the loose ball. Crucially, the Cornish lineout worked far better than last week: Cornwall won most of their own ball, and some of Devon's too. In an all-Penzance/Newlyn back row of Penrose, Bearman, and Carroll, flanker Kevin Penrose was a thorn in the flesh of Devon all afternoon. Both defences were solid.
Cornwall scored first, after only three minutes, when full-back Larkins kicked his first penalty. Fabian, of Henley Hawks, replied with two penalties for Devon, before Larkins struck twice more. Devon forced their way over the Cornish line, but the referee ruled that the ball had gone forward. Cornwall hung on to lead 9-6 at half-time.
In the second half, Larkins and Fabian exchanged further penalties. Now it was the Cornish turn to put the Devon line under pressure. Given a kickable penalty, Larkins opted to put the ball in the corner. Cornwall won the lineout, but couldn't make it count. The referee awarded a scrum to Devon. Still Cornwall threatened the Devon line.
Devon coach Graham Dawe sent on three fresh forwards, each as huge as the man he replaced. Devon started to edge Cornwall backwards at the scrums. Time and again, Devon launched their big men, trying to batter their way through, but the Cornish tackled like tigers.
In the final minute of normal time, Devon were awarded a penalty about 35 meters out, to the left of the posts. The prospect of extra time loomed as full-back Fabian stepped up to level the scores. Thankfully, he missed and Cornwall ended the game on the attack.
Cornwall team: S. Larkins (Redruth, Captain), M. Richards
(Penzance & Newlyn), C. Bonds (Redruth), S. Kirman (Redruth), R. Newton
(Penzance & Newlyn), J. Hawken (Penzance & Newlyn), R. Pellow
(Worcester), P. Risdon (Plymouth Albion), B. Lucas (Launceston), S. Rush
(Launceston), J. Wilce (Launceston), L. Soper (Worcester), R. Carroll (Penzance
& Newlyn), K. Penrose (Penzance & Newlyn), J. Bearman (Penzance &
Newlyn).
Replacements: T. Sincock (Redruth), J. Lancaster
(Redruth), M. Richards (Truro), C. Hammond (Launceston), G. Hutchings
(Launceston), D. Risdon (Launceston), D. Jaques (Penryn).
Scorers: Devon: Penalties: Fabian (3); Cornwall: Penalties: Larkins (4)
In a pulsating game where no quarter was asked or given, Gloucester managed to dig deep to pull off victory in extra time. Against a large and experienced pack, led by ex-international player David Sims, Cornwall struggled in the set pieces but held up well in the loose. In the backs, both sides defended with grit and determination which reflected in the half-time scoreline of 0-0 and the normal-time score of 3-3.
Cornwall just had the better of the attacking positions in the first half but Gloucestershire came back into contention more and more in the second-half as Cornwall struggled hard to contain the Gloucestershire mid-field. Gloucestershire broke the deadlock in the 47th with a well struck penalty by Scott Pollock while Cornish pressure finally told when Gloucestershire were penalised for illegal use of the boot and Steve Larkins put over the kick.
Cornwall started extra time in attacking manner, going close three times without reward before Gloucestershire's full-back, Dave Knight, scored the vital first try to make the score 8-3 to the visitors. From then up it was catch-up rugby for Cornwall and a bad mistake while running out of defence cost Cornwall dear as Gloucestershire scored a second try by Nathan Evans, converted by Pollock, to make the score 15-3 and put the result beyond dispute. Gloucestershire's third try came from David Sims, again converted by Pollock, while Cornwall scored a consolation try by Shane Kirman, converted by Steve Larkins. Cornwall had given their best but on the day it was not good enough against such experienced opponents.
Photo by Sam Morgan-Moore. Here are some more of Sam 's photos of the semi-final.
S. Larkins (Redruth, Captain), M. Richards (Penzance & Newlyn), C.
Bonds (Redruth), S. Kirman (Redruth), J. Hawken (Penzance & Newlyn), J.
Tucker (Launceston), R. Pellow (Worcester), P. Risdon (Plymouth Albion), B.
Lucas (Launceston), S. Rush (Launceston), J. Wilce (Launceston), L. Soper
(Worcester), R. Carroll (Penzance & Newlyn), K. Penrose (Penzance &
Newlyn), J. Lancaster (Redruth).
Replacements: T. Sincock
(Redruth), M. Richards (Truro), C. Hammond (Launceston), D. Risdon
(Launceston), A Hymans (Redruth), J. Arnold (Redruth).
A fine all-round team performance enabled Cornwall U20s to defeat Gloucestershire at the Mennaye, in the first group game of the Under 20s County Championship.
The Cornwall side, with seven Redruth players, ran in six good tries, four of them after half-time.
Simeon Lewry (Launceston) and Ian Hambly(Truro) scored the Cornwall tries in the first half, one of them converted by Martin Strick (Redruth), as Cornwall led 12-6.
After the break, Cornwall stretched away with tries from Lewry (2), Luke Collins (Redruth), and Strick, with the same player adding two more conversions and Mark Churcher one.
Cornwall U.20’s continued their winning ways in the South West group with a fine away win against Somerset in Yeovil.
Somerset were leading 8-0 at the break, having had the wind and slope in their favour. Redruth scrum-half Martin Strick put over a penalty goal to be followed by a try from club mate Sam Heard to tie the scores. Strick then put Cornwall ahead with his second penalty goal of the afternoon, before Marc Sweeney scored a late try to seal the Cornish victory. Somerset could only reply with a second penalty goal. The win was marred by the sending off of Cornish prop Sam Heard for an alleged stamping incident. Cornwall coaches Darren Chapman and Adrian Bick thought it was a very harsh decision.
Cornwall will book their place in the quarterfinals if they avoid defeat against Devon, who lost to Gloucestershire, in their final group match on March 24th.
Cornwall completed their South West group matches with an impressive 44-15 win over old rivals Devon to top the standings. Cornwall will now play Kent U.20’s in the quarterfinals away at Blackheath on Sunday April 7th.
Cornwall, playing down the slope at Redruth, were soon on the scoreboard when Launceston winger Simeon Lewry was fed the ball from a lineout in Hellfire Corner to touch down at the Piggy Lane corner. Devon hit back from this early set back and scored a fine try through wing Richard Young under the Cornish posts. Stung by this effort, Cornwall hit back and scored a second try from the other Launceston wing, Stephen Yates. Two further tries followed before half time from Truro scrumhalf Rikki Brandham and Redruth second row Guy Botterill, to give Cornwall a useful lead at the break of 20-5.
Cornwall were soon back in the scoring grove after halftime with another try after 42 minutes scored by Yates, his second of the match. Marek Churcher (Penryn) converted from the touchline. Devon scored their second try of the game when full back Gary Kingdom went over. Cornwall were not finished yet and proceeded to score the try of the game with a movement that began in their own 22. Lewry took the ball a full 70 meters, outpacing the Devon defence, the ball was moved inside and, after several passes, Cornish skipper Josh Lord rounded off the move, Churcher added the conversion to crown the score.
Cornwall were now flying and their scoring was completed by a Churcher penalty goal and a try from Redruth flanker Nathan Pascoe that Churcher converted. Devon, who never gave up, had the final say with a try from their No 8 Sam Harris. However, this was a Cornish performance to be proud of. The lads will travel to Blackheath full of confidence and will give Kent a hard game. The prospect of a semi-final will be all the motivation they will need.
Deep in injury time and trailing by 26-20, Camborne’s David Roberts cut through the Kent defence to score his second try of the match and give Truro’s Ian Hambly the chance to win the match with the last kick of the game, and send Cornwall into the semi-finals of this season’s county U.20 championship. With nerves of steel Hambly dispatched his kick between the posts and Cornwall were home and dry by the skin of their teeth.
Facing the wind in the first half, Cornwall were put under the cosh by a classy Kent side who scored four first half tries courtesy of their centre Pat Sykes who has signed for Plymouth Albion next season. None of these tries were converted and Kent only landed one penalty in the first half, as did Penryn’s Marek Churcher to leave the Duchy trailing by 23-3 at the break.
With the wind at their backs, Cornwall set about the Kent score. However, it was to be Kent who scored first in this half with a second penalty goal. It was time for a fight back; Cornwall tore in to Kent and began to get the upper hand at the set pieces. Tries came from Roberts and the Redruth pair of Sam Harrison and Martin Rice. Hambly converted one of the tries, and Cornwall were still chasing the game with time fast running out. David Roberts' second try and Hamby’s conversion sealed the result in Cornwall's favour.
Hampshire gained victory in injury time with two quick tries. With Cornwall only three points behind in the closing stages of the game, it was the extra cutting edge in midfield, where the Hampshire fly-half and centres had the upper hand, that made the difference between the two teams. The Cornwall forwards had their fair share of the ball, particularly in the earlier stages of the game, but Hampshire gradually took control as the match progressed and finished up on top by the end. It was not that Cornwall played badly - they did not - it was just that Hampshire were a shade too good for them and deserved the spoils. Scorers for Cornwall: tries, Hambley, Collins; conversions, Hambly (2).
Team: 15. Ian Hambley (Truro), 14. Stephen Yates
(Launceston), 13. Marc Sweeney (Redruth), 12. Nathan Pedley (Redruth), 11.
Simeon Lewry (Launceston), 10. Merrick Churcher (Penryn), 9. Ricky Brandon
(Truro), 8. Josh Lord (Truro, Captain), 7. David Roberts (Camborne), 6. Ian
Boyling (Wadebridge Camels), 5. Guy Botterill (Redruth), 4. Luke Collins
(Redruth), 3. Gareth Bilkey (Newquay Hornets), 2. Sam Harrison (Redruth), 1.
Martin Rice (Launceston).
Replacements: 16. Martin Strick
(Redruth), 17. James Tresize (Penzance & Newlyn), 18. Sam Heard (Redruth),
19. Nial Turner (Mounts Bay), 20. Damien Cook (Camborne), 21. Tom Thatcher
(Hayle), 22. Nathan Pascoe (Redruth).