Report by Steve Murley
Photo of acrobat Mark 'Choppy' Martin by Graham Walker

Wadebridge RFC 13 St Austell RFC 14

A tight game was expected when St Austell travelled to play near-neighbours Wadebridge Camels in a league and Cup semi-final double header last weekend, and so it turned out. In a tense encounter game at Egloshayle, Saints won by 13 – 14 to book their place in another County Cup Final to be played over the Easter Weekend.

In front of a large and vocal crowd, Camels kicked off with the wind behind them playing towards the clubhouse end and immediately established a period of extended pressure in the Saints half. Winning quick ball Camels sent runners through the middle before looking to spin the ball wide. In answer, Saints tackled well, via backs and forwards with Sam Parsons and Chris Ashwin putting in decent shifts while the forwards with Cam Taylor and Kyle Marriott turned over ball when the Camels were in dangerous positions.

With 21 minutes gone, and from a lineout just in in the Camels half, Saints won a good lineout through Vian and drove hard from the forwards. With momentum stalled, the referee called “use it” and Saints looked to move the ball wide to the left. Saints supporters groaned as the pass to Sam Parsons seemed to drop away towards his feet but deft footwork saw him control the oval ball and chip through for Bullen to gather well and launch himself over the try line. A steely-eyed Ashwin lined up the difficult kick into the wind and, with sub-lime judgement and practised nonchalance, slotted the additional two points. Who knew how important these would prove to be!! 21 mins, Camels 0 – 7 Saints.

Camels would have been disappointed but not dis-heartened as they re-grouped and continued to make inroads into Saints territory. A penalty conceded by Saints saw a great kick to the corner from Thomas. Camels gathered the lineout and drove at the line. The Saints defence held up well and the lineout drive went to ground. Camels prop Jack Scott seized his chance and drove at a defensive hole on the side of the ruck to record a Camels try which was not converted. 27 mins, Camels 5 – 7 Saints.

Within 2 minutes of the re-start, Saints fullback Cav Boyer was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle and this opened the door for renewed assault by Camels in the Saints half. Under pressure and a man down, Saints began to leak penalties, compounded by the loss of an additional 10m because of back-chat to the referee. It was from one of these infringements that Thomas kicked a penalty on the stroke of half-time. 40 mins - Camels 8 – 7 Saints.

With the wind likely to come into play in the second half, Saints half-time team talk was controlled and focussed; Keep the ball, drive aggressively and don’t wait for things to happen, make them happen.

The second half began with Camels once more testing the visiting sides’ defence but the Saints with Marriott, Davey and Parsons setting the example for youngsters Taylor, Plummer and Boyce tackled well and began to make ground of their own. With the game finely balanced the referee, who had warned both asides to reduce the penalty count at half-time, penalised Saints wing Max Bullen for what looked an innocuous offence, swiftly followed up with a yellow, given as a team card for conceding too many penalties.

From the resulting scrum Camels identified space down the Saints left wing and exploited it brilliantly to send in Livett. The conversion was unsuccessful and after 52 minutes Camels led Saints 13 – 7.

With Davey rallying his troops, albeit one man down, the Saints began to work their way back into the game. Camels now found themselves on the receiving end of a succession of Saints attacks. Vian was dominating the lineouts and Knight hitting rucks and mauls with conviction. Choppy Martin and River Nowell joined the fray and immediately began to make their presence felt. With Saints restored to 15 men it was Camels turn to earn a team yellow card for repeated infringements reducing them to 14 men.

A high tackle in midfield by a tired looking Camels player was drilled to the corner, Vian rose high and with the backs joining in, from the catch and drive, it was Pete Rowe who emerged as the try scorer. From way out on the left hand-side there was still a kick to convert to take the lead. Ashwin once again composed himself and judged the wind perfectly to give the Saints a one point lead. 72 mins - 13 – 14 Saints.

The last 7 minutes saw the Saints calmly manage the game to the conclusion they wanted. When the referee awarded them a penalty, Ashwin made sure that he took the full amount of time allowed and that his kick at goal would also clear the dead ball line, to see Saints prevail by 13 points to 14.

This was a typically close and hard-fought Cornish derby between two sides who know and respect each other. The Saints know how hard it is to win at Egloshayle and will be pleased with their performance on a day when they maintained their second place in the league and won a place at another County Cup Final to be played, we believe, on Easter Saturday.

What’s Going On!:

Friday 20th March - St Austell RFC U9's are holding a family Prize Bingo evening. Doors will open at 6.15pm with 'eyes down' at 7.15pm and the bar is open! Proceeds towards this years annual U9's festival held here at Tregorrick and the Saints Family Rugby Fund (that pays for kit, volunteer training and a number of other rugby related things). No tickets required...Just turn up.

Easter Weekend – Saints play either Truro or Veor in the County Cup final! We believe its going to be on Easter Saturday but we are waiting for confirmation on date, time and venue from CRFU. A much augmented ‘Massive’ will be travelling to support them…eyes peeled for details of how we will move en-masse soon.

17th-19th April 2020 is our ever expanding Ale, Cider and Gin Festival. Stacks of live rugby, food, live music and a superb selection of drinks to try. Update to this is that the Sunday session will now include the Cornwall Colts Finals day so some fantastic rugby to watch and refreshments to enjoy during each of the sessions now! Volunteers to work the Ale/Cider bar, kitchens or to just generally help are required. Please email events@staustellrfc.co.uk if you can give a couple of hours or more on one of the days.

Tuesday 28th April 2020 We host Cornwall v Devon at Tregorrrick Park in the Tamar Cup KO 7.30pm.

Saturday 16th May - Confirmed date for Senior Players end of season dinner and awards. Number of seats and price to be announced soon!