The score was 21-15 to the home side at the time, but the Saints were on top and camped deep in the 22 against the tiring Tics. Frustrations at the stoppage soon evapourated when the extent of the injury became obvious and the priority focused on the prone player’s welfare. After a prolonged wait for the ambulance, the inevitable decision was made in the rapidly fading light to abandon the game.

The Saints played into the wind on a sticky but eminently playable pitch that belied the fears of a postponement following heavy overnight rain. The visitors started brightly and held sway in the opening 10 minutes without creating an opportunity of note. A missed tackle on the halfway changed all that and the Tics led a downfield charge to the Saints try line resulting in prop Calvin Bradley crashing over. Fly half Nathan Pring added the extras with a well struck conversion from out wide (7-0). The Saints compounded their problems with a high tackle from the restart allowing the home side to establish a platform in the 22. The driving maul is the Tics’ weapon of choice with the considerable bulk of captain Jon Woodhead at the fulcrum and a series of drives resulted in flanker Isaac Fahey touching down (14-0). The shell-shocked Saints played themselves back into the game and an exchange of passes between CJ Boyce and Cav Boyer put Chris Ashwin into space only to be stopped by a despairing tap tackle with the try line twinkling tantalisingly close. Good work by Ben Chenoweth on the other wing sucked the Tics in and an excellent cross field kick by skipper for the day Andy Ashwin was finished off with aplomb by Cav Boyer (14-5). The Saints were now on top and Chris Ashwin finished off a training ground loop move to put the Saints in touching distance of the home side (14-12). The hard work was undone in bizarre circumstances straight from the restart, a few choice words after a Saints’ player was taken out by the advancing Tics. The referee did not see the off the ball incident but penalised the Saints for swearing. The resulting kick landing deep in Saints’ territory allowing the home side to unleash their rolling maul again (21-12). A harsh lesson for the bemused visitors encountering the “Devon Protocol” for the first time. This was apparently introduced this season by the Devon Referees Society with the laudable intention in preventing on-field abuse. While the language may have been industrial and regrettable, it should be emphasised it was not directed at the official or a specific individual, more a general expression of frustration.

The home side started the second half determined to put the game beyond the Saints’ reach and the visitors were trapped in the Clubhouse corner for what seemed like an eternity. In one of sports’ great ironies, despite scoring three times in the first half when they feasted on the Saints’ mistakes, the Tics failed to score during their most dominant period of the game. It was not for the want of trying and the Saints had to dig deep to keep the home side at bay. With the storm weathered, the visitors started to exert greater control over proceedings and a Liam Freeman penalty closed the gap to just six points (21-15). A continuous phase of play saw Ben Chenoweth just denied and the Saints looked to have a great field position in front of the posts just 10m out from the try line when proceedings were brought to a halt due to the unfortunate injury.

The matter will now be referred to the SW RFU who will decide whether to let the result stand or arrange a rerun. If the decision is to replay the game then the likely date will be Saturday 10 February, leaving our hard-working Fixture Secretary desperately looking for an alternative date for the Cup semi-final against St Ives in an already congested fixture list. Whatever the outcome, all at St Austell RFC wish Joel Hempton a speedy and full recovery. Next week the Saints will be hoping for a return to form in the big derby game at Tregorrick against Truro (14:30 KO).

St Austell
1 Peter Rowe; 2 Michael Shakespear; 3 Mark Martin; 4 Tony Knight; 5 Adam Kellow; 6 Andy Inch; 7 Ian Venner; 8 George Knowles; 9 Andy Ashwin (Capt.); 10 Chris Ashwin; 11 Ben Chenoweth; 12 Liam Freeman 13 George Tregilgas; 14 Cavan Boyer; 15 CJ Boyce
Reps (All used):
Peter Tuckley; Hector Bright; Mark Martin

St Austell:
Tries – Cavan Boyer (26); Chris Ashwin (35)
Cons – Liam Freeman (35)
Pens – Liam Freeman (64)
Drop Goal –

Torquay Athletic
Tries – Calvin Bradley (11, 38)
Cons – Nathan Pring (11, 17, 38)
Pens –
Drop Goal –

Referee: Mr N Boyd (Devon RRS)