Saints win at Hayle

St Austell showed they deserved their place in the Devon and Cornwall league after last season's promotion, with a precious victory at Hayle. Although the scoreline looks close Saints were leading 15-0 with 5 minutes to go and should have been further out of sight, however when their solid defence relaxed it allowed Hayle to show how dangerous they could have been by scoring two converted tries, with the last one right on the final whistle.

Saints gave debuts to young winger Marcus McCoan and new signing Andy Ashwin from Chichester who fitted in well. With fly half Charles French returning after a spell out of the game, there was something of a new look to St Austell's backs. With credit to head coach Richard Lamb and his able assistants Nigel Allen and Milo Bright, the transition from training field to match was seamless.

The first 20 minutes of the match was mainly spent in the middle of the pitch with both teams searching for a weakness in the opposing defence. Both teams missed scoring chances, however Saints then took the lead.
Flanker Rob Jeffs won clean lineout ball that was spread wide to centre Kieran Murphy who beat two defenders to race in from near halfway to put St Austell 5-0 up.

Saints now started to get on top with scrum half Matt Shepherd sniping around the edges of the rucks and mauls, always looking dangerous but Hayle's creaking defence managed to hold out until half time.
As the second half started Saints realised they had to get more than one score in front and laid siege to the Hayle line. The front row trio of Smith, Hughes and Gibbons ensured plenty of scrum ball and from this platform Saints launched attack after attack although Hayle kept them out for 20 minutes.

Finally after an hour's play St Austell got two score's in front . A long kick out of defence was chased well by winger McCoan and full back Venner and it was Venner who tackled his opposite number and managed to steal the ball close to the Hayle line. The ball went through all the backs hands to allow winger Steve Howorth to score in the opposite corner and with Ashwin making the conversion Saints lead 12-0.
With the Saints back row of Thompson, Kellow and Jeffs pouncing on any loose ball and driving the Hayle forwards back and the second row pairing of Hancock and McNally winning plenty of possession, there looked no way back for Hayle and with five minutes remaining Saints moved 15 points clear when Ashwin converted a default penalty from close to the touchline, not realising at the time how important a kick it was.

Hayle showed how dangerous they could have been if Saints had given them possession, first a loose pass allowed winger Craig Turner to intercept on halfway and race under the posts and when his opposite winger Liam Mitchell went over after a flowing long range move, Saints were pleased that when Kelvin James converted the 2nd try the final whistle sounded.

St Austell 2nd team beat their Hayle counterparts 34-0 to prove what strength and depth the club now has.

Report by Jack Rowe