Cornwall were left licking their wounds as Devon mauled them 59-8 at Brixham yesterday to retain the Tamar Cup.
Both sides were makeshift in some departments, but Devon gelled as the match went on while Cornwall didn't.
Odd players stood out for Cornwall – Redruth No.8 Tom Duncan had a stormer and Truro's Mark Lea made a couple of good runs – but this was Devon's day.
For the new Devon coaching team of Keith Brooking, Jason Luff and Dave Kimberley, it was a dream start to their regime.
"Considering we only had a 30-minute run through before the game, it was a great start," Brooking said. "While there are five or six players still to come into contention, this is the bulk of the squad we are looking to take into the County Championship."
It was all Devon for the first 20 minutes, yet all they had on the board was a Ross Toms penalty.
The first try had an inevitability about it and it arrived on 24 minutes when the Devon pack worked up to the Cornwall line, then released Jack Downie for a stroll over in the corner.
Grant Thirlby pulled back a penalty for Cornwall, but they did not score again until Devon were 30 points to the good.
Toms landed a penalty after Cornwall's Sam Rhodes committed a sin-bin offence at a breakdown near the away 22.
Cornwall re-started, Devon countered with Sam Richardson running the ball out of defence and two passes later Jemba Bull put his Cullompton team-mate Marcus Bushe in for the first of his three tries.
Again Cornwall restarted, again Devon countered and this time it was Jack Downie who made the run that did the damage. He passed inside to Josh Squire who crossed unhindered. Toms converted.
Five minutes into the second session, Bushe went in under the posts for Toms to convert.
Pressure from the next restart forced a penalty which Toms converted.
Then came Cornwall's best spell, which ended when Duncan scored in the right corner.
Ten minutes from time Bull scored after a top-of-the range run by Squire.
When Cornwall stand-off David Mankee threw a sloppy pass in the Devon 22 it was picked off by Cam Setter who went 70 metres to score under the posts. Squire converted.
As Cornwall wilted Devon released Setter to score an overlap try on the left.
The overlap worked so well Devon used it again to put Bushe over in the last minute for his hat-trick try.
Cornwall: J Parma (Camborne), M Lea (Truro), R Kevern (Camborne), S Kenward (Redruth), G Thirlby (Redruth), D Mankee (Camborrne), N Endean (Camborne), S Milliner (Worcester Uni), S MacDonald (Camborne), A Skiner (St Ives), W Penny (Redruth), S Matavesi (unattached), T Duncan (Redruth), K Martin (Truro), M Williams (Penryn), D Bramwell (St Ives), A Lewarne (Redruth), J Wilson (Bude), B Jenkins (St Ives)
The TASC Paul Bawden Memorial Trophy 2011, for the best Cornish player in the Tamar Cup match, was won by Matt Shepherd (St. Austell RFC). The trophy was presented to Matt, who was chosen by the CRFU coaching team, at the Tamar Cup dinner at Brixham RFC by kind permission of Devon RFU and Brixham RFC by TASC Chairman Phil Trevarton, with TASC members present.
Matt Shepherd is presented with the Paul Bawden trophy by TASC Chairman Phil Trevarton
A difficult week for Cornwall was capped by an opening defeat in an absorbing and abrasive County Championship pool match at Redruth.
Despite the loss there were many positives for the side to take forward as they now concentrate on their next match away to Gloucestershire next Saturday at Cinderford.
Skippper Darren Jacques was pleased with his side’s effort despite losing. “A lot of the young boys really stood up today and they deserve to be playing at this level. We will get down to some hard work this week and look to put right the errors we made today. Having said that, there were areas of the game where we didn’t get help from the officials today”.
With the Falmouth Marine Band in attendance, along with “Miss Betty Stoggs”, Cornwall took the field to the strains of “Trelawny”.
Hertfordshire got off to a great start, scoring their opening try with barely a minute on the clock. Cornwall conceded a penalty from the kick-off, and a quick tap saw the ball moved wide with winger Ian Compton scoring in the Piggy Lane Corner. Full-back Richard Gregg kicked a fine conversion despite the tricky wind.
Cornwall’s kickers sadly had an off-day, with both Ian Morgan and Adryan Winnan mustering just one success between them all afternoon.
Morgan saw an early opportunity for points sail wide, as did the conversion shortly after of winger Tom Notman’s first try, scored after 12 minutes following a fine move involving lock Damien Cook and flanker Chris Fuca.
A further penalty chance was spurned by Morgan on 25 minutes. Cornwall were on the front foot as they looked to claw back their deficit. However, they were dealt a further blow when a promising move broke down, allowing Hertfordshire to counter through pacey centre Chris Lombaard. The Old Albanians' player was hauled down short of the line by a fine tackle from Winnan. From the scrum Hertfordshire were able to drive over in the Piggy Lane Corner for a second try scored by skipper, hooker Brett McNamee.
Cornwall then lost Morgan to the sin-bin as Hertfordshire pressed in the Cornwall 22, with Gregg adding a penalty for a 15-5 lead.
Despite being a man short Cornwall put Hertfordshire under severe pressure in the run up to half-time with a succession of penalties and scrums down in the Strawberry Lane Corner. However, Hertfordshire’s defence was solid enough to keep Cornwall out.
Cornwall earned another penalty some thirty meters out and with time up on the clock Winnan kicked the points to leave Cornwall trailing 15-8 at the break.
The mood at Redruth became more sombre as news flittered through that Sedgley Park had beaten Macclesfield, thus condemning the Reds to National League 2 South next season.
Cornwall, though, began the second half in fine style. Centre Sam Parsons jinked and swivelled his way through the Hertfordshire defence to storm into their 22, the move was taken on by hooker Richard Brown and centre Steve Johns, before No.8 Sam Hocking was on hand to score in Hell Fire Corner. Winnan couldn’t add the extras from wide out.
Hertfordshire were then reduced to fourteen men as flanker Lawrence Wright was sin-binned for a professional foul.
Cornwall looked to their bench with the rolling replacements, and flanker Steve Woods made an immediate impact with some storming runs and drives. Props Peter Joyce and skipper Darren Jacques were also getting through a lot of work in the tight and loose. Wadebridge Camels' duo of scrum-half Shaun Hawkey and No.8 Gary Gynn also made a telling contribution when they came on, as did Camborne’s lock James Goldsworthy before being replaced in the second half.
Cornwall were gathering momentum and, with a penalty in the offing, Morgan cross-kicked to winger Notman, who gathered to beat the cover and score his second try of the afternoon on 55 minutes. Cornwall for the first time were ahead 18-15.
Cornwall were then undone by an opportunist try as a kick ahead bounced awkwardly for the Cornish cover, allowing Crompton to gather and speed into the Cornish 22. The ball was moved inside to Lombaard and then to the supporting lock Dave Shotton, who scored under the posts with the Cornish defence totally stretched. Gregg’s conversion gave Hertfordshire a four-point lead at 22-18.
Hertfordshire then struck a telling blow with fly-half James Shanahan dropping a goal with 14 minutes remaining.
Try as they might Cornwall couldn’t break down the Hertfordshire defence in the remaining minutes, despite the visitors being reduced again to fourteen men as winger Chris May was yellow carded for a professional foul. They then suffered a further blow as replacement centre Steve Kenward was forced to leave the field with a twisted ankle and must be doubtful for the next match.
After the game head coach Dave “Benji” Thomas paid tribute to his side. “I felt that all 22 gave more than one hundred percent, with nine newcomers to the county championship; without any question they all made their mark. We were up against a very well organised side. At the scrum and breakdown they were very streetwise and we didn’t get the quality possession in those two areas we hoped for. Certainly at the breakdown we were under pressure with some of the things that were happening. Having said that we scored three good tries, but we also conceded tries which normally I wouldn’t expect us to. At the end of the day all the players gave their best. Unfortunately the best today was not good enough”.
“We did struggle today in the goal kicking department, but to win a game you need to get over the gain line and today we struggled in that area too”.
Looking ahead to next week’s game Benji added “We’ve got to be more dynamic up front, especially at the breakdown. The lineout went fairly well, we scrummed well, but were pulled up by the referee on a number of occasions. If we boss the breakdown then we are in prime position to control the game”.
The selectors will meet on Monday with the squad set to train at Redruth on Wednesday evening. In the other game in the pool Gloucestershire defeated Kent 34-26 at Lydney.
Cornwall 18 pts: tries Notman (2), Hocking; penalty Winnan
Yellow card Morgan (32)
Hertfordshire 25 pts: tries Compton, McNamee, Shotton;
conversions Gregg (2); penalty Gregg; drop-goal Shanahan
Yellow cards
White (47), May (80)
Cornwall: A Winnan, T Notman, S Johns, S Parsons, M Bowden, I
Morgan, N Simmons; D Jacques (capt), R Brown, P Joyce, D Cook, J Goldsworthy, C
Fuca, O Hambly, S Hocking.
Replacements (all used): S Kenward, B
Rule, S Woods, S Hawkey, S Matavesi, C Williams, G Gynn
Hertfordshire: R Gregg, C May, S Smart, C Lombaard, J Shanahan, S
Liebenberg; J Ellershaw, B McNamee (capt), R Schillaci, C South, D Shotton, L
White, C Rainbow, J Corcoran.
Replacements (all used): W Cope, A
Brown, A Macdougall, T Macdougall, J Micans, S Ellis, S Wasley
Referee: Mr. R Kelly
Crowd: 604
South African centre Jean Botha scored a hat-trick of tries as Gloucestershire moved to within one victory of their third successive trip to Twickenham.
Cinderford winger Nev Codlin (2) and No.8 George Evans also weighed in with touchdowns to make it two wins out of two for the hosts in a ding-dong, entertaining battle at Cinderford’s Dockham Road. It puts them in a strong position in Division One South of the Bill Beaumont Cup, and success over Hertfordshire at Old Albanians RFC next Saturday will guarantee their place in the cup final on May 29.
Cornwall provided plenty of effort, but some of their one-on-one tackling was awful, and victory against Kent at Canterbury next weekend is now essential if they are to avoid the ignominy of relegation to Division Two. Worryingly, they picked up several injuries yesterday, and it remains to be seen what sort of team they can put out for that game.
Cornwall made a disastrous start, conceding a try after only 74 seconds. Fly-half Aaron Penberthy miscued a penalty kick to touch inside his own 22, Gloucestershire won the line-out, and when they moved the ball quickly to the left, Codlin went through a non-existent tackle from Redruth full-back Brett Rule to canter over.
Penberthy made amends with a superb 40-metre penalty four minutes later to cut the deficit, only for home skipper Tim Stevenson to swiftly reply with a simple penalty of his own.
Penberthy should have registered a second Duchy penalty midway through the first half, but his 25-metre kick hit the upright. The teenager did not have to wait long for a third opportunity, however, as he punished an indiscretion by Royce Cadman that saw the lock yellow-carded.
Referee Ross Campbell evened numbers up just before the half-hour mark when he sin-binned flanker Mike Rawlings for going off his feet at a ruck, but the visitors managed to withstand a period of intense pressure on their line, and were indebted to a superb try-saving tackle by Plymouth Albion centre Steve Johns on home flanker Jack Preece.
It was only a brief respite for Cornwall though, as Codlin raced through under the posts for his second try, after a neat move off a scrum inside the 22, and Stevenson added the extras.
It looked grim for Cornwall, but they finished the half in encouraging fashion. Cornish All Blacks lock Ben Hilton made a surging run, and despite being halted, he dived over the top of a close-range ruck several phases later to score a try, converted by Penberthy, to leave them trailing only 15-13 at the break.
They edged their noses in front for the first time three minutes after the restart, with another Penberthy penalty, but their lead lasted only two minutes as Hartpury College centre Botha capitalised on some woeful tackling to race in from 35 metres, and Stevenson supplied the conversion to make it 22-16.
Botha added another try three minutes later as Cornwall’s defence was once more ripped to shreds, and the impressive Stevenson, who was pulling the strings to great effect, made it a seven-pointer. He did miss with an ambitious 51-metre penalty attempt soon after, but the hosts were easing to victory until Redruth flanker Owen Hambly won the race to touch down his own kick ahead, with Penberthy converting, and it was game on again at 29-23.
However, Gloucestershire finished strongly, with tries by Botha, for his hat-trick, and Evans wrapping up victory, and a conversion and penalty by Stevenson left him with a personal 14-point haul.
Gloucestershire scorers: tries: Codlin (2), Botha (3), Evans; cons: Stevenson (4); pens: Stevenson (2)
Gloucestershire: S Taylor (Old Patesians), C Hawkins (Hartpury
College), T Jarvis (Stourbridge), J Botha (Hartpury College), N Codlin
(Cinderford), T Stevenson (Hartpury College, capt), J Williams
(Birmingham-Solihull), P Price (Cinderford), S Wilkes (Cinderford), C Bundy
(Cinderford), L Bellinger (Clifton), R Cadman (Newport-Gwent Dragons), S Gaynor
(Esher), J Preece (Birmingham-Solihull), G Evans
(Cinderford)
Replacements used: M Long (Birmingham-Solihull), B Lewis
(Lydney), G Curry (Dings Crusaders), W Foden (Hartpury College), S Bryant (Old
Patesians), C Jones (Lydney), T Richardson (Stourbridge)
Cornwall scorers: tries: Hilton, Hambly; cons: Penberthy (2); pens: Penberthy (3)
Cornwall (Redruth unless stated): B Rule, T Notman, T McBride (St
Ives), S Johns (Plymouth Albion), M Bowden, A Penberthy, N Simmons, D Jacques
(capt), R Brown, P Joyce, B Hilton (Cornish All Blacks), J Lord (Cornish All
Blacks), M Rawlings (Cornish All Blacks), O Hambly, S Hocking (Plymouth
Albion)
Replacements used: S Hawkey (Wadebridge Camels), I Morgan (St
Ives), C Williams (St Ives), B Pow (Cornish All Blacks), G Jones (Penryn), J
Salter (Cornish All Blacks), A Harris (Rosslyn Park)
Yellow cards: Glos: Cadman 22; Cornwall: Rawlings 29
Referee: Ross Campbell (RFU)
Gloucestershire skipper Tim Stevenson admitted his side have to overcome a ‘tough challenge’ against Hertfordshire next Saturday if they are to reach their third successive Twickenham final. Gloucestershire made it two wins out of two in Division One South of the Bill Beaumont Cup with a 44-23 victory over Cornwall at Cinderford yesterday, and a triumph at Old Albanians RFC next weekend will book their place in the cup final on May 29.
‘It would be nice to get to Twickenham for a third year on the trot. We are not counting our chickens yet, but it would be great to get to the final and win the silverware this year, having lost there over the past two seasons,’ said the Hartpury College fly-half. ‘Hertfordshire is going to be a difficult test for us as they beat Cornwall as well, so we know we are up against it, but we are just taking it one game at a time.
‘We were a bit rusty in the first half today and made some unforced errors. Those killed us last week against Kent, and they killed us this week too.
“But in the second half we tightened it up and performed well, and at times we were a different class compared to Cornwall, and there is a lot for us to build on for next week.’
His Hartpury College team-mate, impressive South African centre Jean Botha, scored a hat-trick of tries, and Stevenson said: ‘Jean has been playing like that all season for Hartpury and is a class act, but from one to 22, we all pulled together in the second half, and were just glad to get the result and move on to next week.’
Cornwall head coach Dave ‘Benji’ Thomas felt the final score did not reflect the way his team had played, particularly in the first half, but they were made to pay for some poor tackling.
‘We went in at half-time only 15-13 down, and thought we were going to play with what wind there was in the second half,’ he explained. ‘But Gloucestershire were a very well-organised side, with a big pack, and I think their big-running forwards took it out of some of our players in the amount of tackling they had to do.
‘We stuck at it right until the end and all 22 of our players gave 110 per cent, but that is not good enough against a big side like that, and the tremendous pace they had outside, which we just couldn’t match, and we crucially missed some one-on-one tackles.
‘At this level you just can’t do that, and it was fatal, and three of their tries in the second half came because we didn’t take the man out.
‘I feel sorry for the Cornish supporters who came up to Cinderford. It is fantastic to see people turning up in their gold and black, but we just couldn’t do it on the field for them today.’
Cornwall must now win against Kent at Canterbury next Saturday to avoid relegation to Division Two, and Thomas said: ‘It will be all to play for up there, but we picked up a lot of injuries again, with players with arms in slings and people carried off, and we will have to look and see who is available next Saturday. ‘I would hate to see us lose to Kent and possibly go down, but that is not on the agenda as far as I am concerned.’
CORNWALL retained their place in Division One South of the Bill Beaumont Cup with a thrilling victory over Kent at sunny Canterbury.
With both teams having lost their opening two group matches, it was a relegation decider, and they served up a real ding-dong battle. The crucial difference between the sides was Cornwall’s pack, as they dominated the scrums, caused all sorts of problems in the mauls, and impressed at line-out time. In fact, all of the Duchy’s five tries came from scrum or maul situations, but they also demonstrated an uncanny knack of shooting themselves in the foot, and it was largely their mistakes that kept Kent in the contest.
Cornwall, with six changes to the side that had started against Gloucestershire the previous week, had the strong wind and slope in their favour in the first half, but only led 17-13 at the interval, which caused some alarm bells to ring.
They trailed after nine minutes, when Kent fly-half Paul Humphreys sent a grubber kick through the Duchy defensive line that was pounced on by winger Martin Beaumont for a try, but Humphreys missed the conversion.
Teenage Redruth fly-half Aaron Penberthy – who kicked superbly all afternoon - reduced the deficit with a penalty soon after, but it was not until just before the half-hour mark that Cornwall got their noses in front. Lock Ben Hilton, who was amazingly playing despite a hairline fracture in his leg, finished off a catch-and-drive line-out move, and Penberthy’s conversion made it 10-3.
Kent levelled the scores when Cornwall scrum-half Shaun Hawkey unfortunately spilled a ball palmed down from a line-out, and home flanker James Harris raced 50 metres to score in the left-hand corner. But, after Mike Rawlings had blown a two-on-one overlap, and Steve Johns had seen the ball dislodged from his grasp as he crossed the try line, Cornwall finally got their second touchdown when they took a strike against the head at a five-metre scrum and hugely influential No.8 Sam Hocking dotted down, with Penberthy adding the extras for a 17-10 advantage.
The half ended on a bad note for Cornwall though, with fly-half Ian Morgan yellow-carded by referee Mike Tutty for not rolling away from a tackle, and Humphreys’ simple penalty leaving Kent only four points adrift at the break. It was important the Duchy survived Morgan’s absence without suffering any further damage, but from the second-half kick-off, Tutty wrongly adjudged Hocking to have knocked on, and from the resultant scrum Humphreys’ long pass found full-back Toby May, who fed winger Kieran Leeper, and he juggled with the ball before claiming the try, with Humphreys’ conversion making it 20-17 to the hosts.
Cornwall’s riposte was instant, with a solid scrum providing the platform for flanker Mike Rawlings to be mauled over in the corner, and Penberthy’s extras put Cornwall back in front.
But they again pressed the self-destruct button only a minute later, as Johns passed the ball straight to his opposite number Steve Hamilton, and he sent Beaumont racing clear for his second try of the game, with Humphreys’ conversion attempt hitting the upright.
Penberthy and Humphreys then exchanged penalties – the latter after Hocking had been sin-binned, to leave Kent 28-27 ahead, but despite being a man down, the Duchy shoved Kent off their own five-metre scrum in the 63rd minute and Hawkey pounced on the loose ball to restore the visitors’ lead.
Humphreys added another penalty, but then came the highlight of the match for Cornwall, as a wonderful 35-metre rolling maul was finished off by Hilton for his third try in two matches, and in front of the watching England Counties selectors.
Penberthy converted to stretch the lead to eight points, and even though another Humphreys penalty got Kent to within one score again, Penberthy struck once more in injury time to wrap up victory and give him a personal 17-point haul.
Kent: T May (Westcombe Park), K Leeper (Westcombe Park), M
Melford (Canterbury), S Hamilton (Nottingham), M Beaumont (Dover), P Humphreys
(Blackheath), J Askew (Westcombe Park), J Standford (Canterbury), C Woodall
(Blackheath), N Winwood (Blackheath), G Wallis (Westcombe Park), R Cooke
(Blackheath), Z Stephens (Gravesend), J Harris (Blackheath), T Stradwick
(Henley, capt). Replacements used: L Covington (Blackheath), J Clement
(Gravesend), S Carmen (Sidcup), N Lines (Gravesend)
Not used: A Moorey
(Gravesend), A Bishop (Gravesend), B Sandison (Medway)
Cornwall: A Penberthy (Redruth), T Goodman (Brixham), S Parsons
(Redruth), S Johns (Plymouth Albion), T Notman (Redruth), I Morgan (St Ives), S
Hawkey (Wadebridge Camels), D Jacques (Redruth, capt), R Brown (Redruth), C
Williams (St Ives), J Lord (Cornish All Blacks), B Hilton (Cornish All Blacks),
M Rawlings (Cornish All Blacks), T Rawlings (Cornish All Blacks), S Hocking
(Plymouth Albion)
Replacements used: D Pascoe (Camborne), R Kevern
(Camborne), J Salter (Cornish All Blacks), L Soper (Colchester), M Williams
(Penryn)
Not used: C Bailey (Redruth), S Matavesi (unattached)
Kent scorers: tries: Beaumont (2), Harris, Leeper; con: Humphreys; pens: Humphreys (4)
Cornwall scorers: tries: Hilton (2), Hocking, M Rawlings, Hawkey; cons: Penberthy (4); pens: Penberthy (3)
Referee: Michael Tutty (RFU)
Yellow cards: Cornwall: Morgan 40+4, Hocking 56
Cornwall head coach Dave ‘Benji’ Thomas struggled to conceal his delight after his side’s 42-34 victory over Kent at Canterbury secured their place in Division One South of the Bill Beaumont Cup for next season.
It was a big ask of the Duchy players to travel to the other side of the country and grab a win to avoid relegation, especially at the end of a long and tiring season. But the pride in wearing the black and gold shirt was obvious for all to see as the Cornwall players produced the performance they needed to send them into the summer break with big smiles on their faces.
‘I was over the moon when the final whistle went, but up until then it was ebb and flow,’ explained Thomas. ‘There were scores going in at either end and you didn’t get any pattern from either side, because there was so much pressure on each side when they got the ball.
‘People were being turned over, losing the ball in contact, and it was a bit scary at times from our point of view.’
There were nine changes from the 22 who had been on duty against Gloucestershire, but Thomas was proud of his players’ efforts.
‘There was a total and utter commitment from the players. They were determined Cornwall were not going to get relegated, and they put in an outstanding performance,’ he commented. ‘When we rolled a maul for 35 metres to score, it was an unbelievable piece of skill, and the scrum on their five-metre line in the second half, when we shunted Kent back at a rate of knots, and the ball squirted out and Shaun Hawkey scored, those were two memorable pieces of work by the forwards.
‘I told them afterwards that they had made their stamp again on how Cornish forwards can play, at scrum time and in the loose, and if we had done that all the way through the tournament, we would have been looking at a different table than us finishing third.’
Thomas admitted there had been pressure on both the players and coaching staff before the game to avoid relegation.
‘We wanted to make sure every screw was turned and that we had everything we knew was going to happen covered, but it never works out like that,' he said. ‘They scored a try almost immediately in the game, when they were playing up the slope and against the wind, when we had set out to score 20 points in the first half with those factors in our favour, and suddenly we were 5-0 down.
‘It was a lot of hard work to start to pull the ground back, and some excellent place-kicking by Aaron Penberthy certainly contributed towards our score mounting up.
‘We definitely didn’t think a four-point advantage was enough at half-time. We thought they would kick the ball into the corners and go from there, but I thought our forwards really stood up in the second half, and made some terrific inroads against them at the contact area, and they didn’t get the quality possession that they had hoped to get.
‘The one outstanding feature of the three games we have played in this group has been our defence, and once again today, around the breakdown area, it was awesome, and nobody got through there and we knocked people back, and that was despite Kent having some really big forwards coming round the fringes.’
