The Somerset side were valiant in defence in a difficult afternoon with several of their team tackling themselves to a standstill against an almost continuous onslaught from the Cornishmen. With both sides unbeaten after the first three games of the season, the Saints were expecting a big test in what was billed as a top of the table clash. Unfortunately unavailability decimated the Welly squad so ambitions for the away side were set at damage limitation against a near full strength home side.

A dry mild day with a deceptive breeze saw the Saints attacking the Sports Hall end in the first half. The first score came from the quick thinking of flanker Rob Jeffs who snaffled an overthrown Welly lineout to feed lock Andy Inch on the loop who stretched over the line (7-0). Centre Sam Parsons showed a mixture of guile and strength to slip in for the second try (12-0) and two minutes later Kyle Marriott dotted down from his number eight armchair following a pushover from the seven in front of him (17-0). On 20 minutes fly-half Matt Shepherd attempted a 50-22 kick but the ball held up just short of the touchline. The covering full back was immediately under pressure with three chasing Saints bearing down on him. Flanker Hector Bright charged down the attempted clearance to score in the corner. Matt Shepherd mastered the difficult swirling wind to kick the conversion from wide out (24-0). A rare incursion into home territory by Welly saw a turnover on the 22 by prop Dan Job to launch a counterattack through right winger Fraser Nottle arching round to the left. A kick ahead saw left winger Dan Tyrrell win the foot race to the line (31-0). Just before half time Dan Tyrrell and Matt Shepherd combined brilliantly to split the Welly defence to make it 38-0 at the interval.

The second half began with one of the contenders for try of the day, the Gorran Lighthouse and Captain Mark Vian provided quick ball off the top of a lineout on the Clubhouse side. The ball was spun at pace across the backline and was finished in “Apples Corner” by Dan Tyrrell (45-0). Minutes later he completed his hattrick to finish in the Ruck & Maul corner after Miles Davey and Kyle Marriott showed good hands to create the overlap (52-0). Still the tries kept coming as Sam Parsons created the gap to pop the ball up for Matt Shepherd (59-0). From the restart Ben Plummer set Matt Shepherd on his way again, his pass inside to the supporting Hector Bright allowed the all-action flanker to show a clean pair of heals to score under the posts (66-0). The next restart was taken cleanly by Hector Bright, a piston like hand-off swatted the first defender away, a side step bamboozled the next and a burst of pace evaded the rest as he galloped into the Welly half amid raucous cheers from the stands. An audacious chip over the full back and a perfect bounce ensured that a second hattrick of the afternoon was in the bag (73-0). The final try of the day came from a catch and drive which was, almost inevitably, finished off by Hector Bright. Matt Shepherd stroked over his tenth conversion to make the final score 80-0. The final 10 minutes saw a courageous late rally from Welly with several lung busting bursts in search of a consolation score. The Saints were not in a charitable mood and resolutely defended their line to secure the clean sheet.

Over the last decade the Saints have enjoyed a great rivalry with our friends from Somerset with the two clubs regularly vying with each other for the top spots in the old Western Counties and South West One leagues. Every Club endures an afternoon like this where everything seems to conspire against you and there is no doubt that Wellington will bounce back to remain serious contenders at the top of the inaugural Regional 2 South West.

On a brilliant day for St Austell RFC, the Sinners and the Spartans both weighed in with victories to ensure a senior clean sweep. The Sinners secured their first league win in Counties 2 with a 29-20 bonus point victory against Camborne School of Mines. Scrum half Callum Hayne grabbed a brace of tries, with Kayden Michael and Toby Hodson adding one apiece. Fly-half Archie Bees kicked three conversions with George Hutchinson knocking over a penalty kick. The team were led out by hooker Jack Grigg on his 200th senior appearance, a great achievement for a true Clubman. The Spartans overcame difficult opposition in Camborne IIs to win 10-0 with tries from Matt Trehair and Jay Sloggett.

Next Saturday 1st October 2022 the Saints travel to Sidmouth, the Devonians are also unbeaten so far this season so this promises to be a stern test. The Sinners host Hayle in a 3pm kick off in Counties 2 in what will be their first home league game of the season. The Spartans fixture is yet to be confirmed.

Saints Star Man: Hector Bright – A display full of energy, pace, strength and skill which was rewarded with four tries, including a brilliant solo effort after taking a ball from a restart.

1 Dan Job; 2 Miles Davey; 3 Matt Boothby; 4 Mark Vian (Capt.); 5 Andy Inch; 6 Rob Jeffs; 7 Hector Bright; 8 Kyle Marriott; 9 CJ Boyce; 10 Matt Shepherd; 11 Dan Tyrrell; 12 Ben Plummer 13 Sam Parsons; 14 Fraser Nottle; 15 Cavan Boyer
Reps (All used):
Chris Ashwin; Tony Knight; Charlie Nicholson

St Austell:
Tries – Andy Inch (6); Sam Parsons (9); Kyle Marriott (11); Hector Bright (20, 56, 58, 66); Dan Tyrrell (31, 45, 51), Matt Shepherd (35, 54)
Cons – Matt Shepherd (6, 20, 31, 35, 45, 51, 54, 56, 58, 66)
Pens –
Drop Goal –

Wellington:
Tries –
Cons –
Pens –
Drop Goal –

Yellow Cards:
St Austell:
Wellington:

Red Cards:
St Austell: None
Wellington: None

Referee: Kevin Instance (CRRS)