This was a hugely entertaining game at a sun drenched Rectory Fields that had spectators on the edge of their seats throughout as the lead swapped hands several times. The Saints can take great pride in their performance, they crossed the Tamar missing eight of their regular line up and pushed fourth placed Services all the way. The visitors were left to rue a poor start to the second half that ultimately cost them the game.

Services got off to a blistering start but found the Cornish defence well organised and resilient. The Saints weathered the storm and as the home side’s early fire dimmed it was the visitors who took the lead. Strong running from centre Curtis Newberry, making his first start of the season, created panic in the home 22. Young lock Mark Vian popped the ball to flanker Adam Pearce who accelerated away to score in the corner. With a new look back row and second row it was perhaps not surprising that Services were edging the scrums but the Saints defence was still holding firm. The home side exerted long periods of territorial pressure but were failing to create any clear cut opportunities. The Saints were proving potent on the counter with Newberry finding an eager runner in Ben Chenoweth. Twice the winger went close to extending the visitors’ lead only to be hauled down close to the try line. With 30 minutes gone, Services were able to exert some real pressure on the Saints try line with a series of 5m scrums. The cracks appeared and No 8 Jack Martin was on hand to tie things up at 5-5. The Saints struck back right on half time when hooker Jack Grigg finished off good work from the forwards with a fine try. Scrum half Matt Shepherd’s conversion put the Saints 12-5 up at the interval.

Fired up Services started the second half at a ferocious pace and turned the game on its head with two tries in the opening four minutes. A series of pick and goes sucked in defenders as the hosts' made relentless progress towards the Saints’ try line. The ball was eventually spun to winger Ozzie Flowers who finished an excellent team try in the corner. Disaster occurred at the restart as the Saints missed a couple of tackles to give fly half Charlie Attis space to break through to the 22m before passing to centre Manoa Tikiosauva who cruised under the posts. Attis’ conversion put the home side 17-12 up and the Saints looked shell shocked. The visitors steadied themselves well to regain a foothold in the game and Chenoweth looked to be through only for another excellent last ditch tackle from the home side. Calamity happened on the hour mark; confusion over a penalty award had players out of position. Services scrum half Joe Page needed no invitation and his quick tap and go allowed him to put Attis in at the corner to extend the Services lead to 22-12. At this stage there were fears amongst Saints’ supporters that the game could be about to be run away from them. The Saints showed tremendous spirit and commitment to claw back two tries through live wire Shepherd. First the mercurial 9 side-stepped his way under the posts to round off some excellent approach work by the forwards. The conversion put the Saints in touching distance, and if his first was all the about the team his second was a superb individual try. Ripping the ball from the Services’ No 8 on the 22m Shepherd romped home to put the Saints back in the lead. All the hard work was undone when Services recovered the ball at the restart. A series of clinical forward drives put them in range of the try line before Flowers was put in at the corner to grab back the lead with just minutes to go. Saints laid siege and spurned a kickable penalty to go for a winning try but Services held out and celebrated long and loud at the final whistle.

The Saints were bitterly disappointed at the end not to have secured the win that would have delivered the league title. However, the game underlined the strength in depth in the squad which augers well for next season. On the same day that a much changed Saints pushed a good side like Services hard the Sinners still secured an impressive 47-31 victory over Wadebridge Camel IIs. With some of this weekend’s injured hoping to be back in contention it is going to make training and selection ahead of next Saturday interesting. Although mathematically the Saints have now achieved their promotion goal, they will still go in search of the win to secure the Championship and break the 100 league points barrier when they take on Exeter Saracens at Tregorrick (KO 3pm 13 April 2013). This is the final home game of the season, entrance will be free and with all the Mini-Junior teams, Colts and ex-players invited it should be a terrific celebration of St Austell RFC past, present and future ahead of the Club’s 50th Season in 2013-14.

Match Stats:

St Austell: Noott; Grigg; Martin; Vian; Haley; Pearce; Nelson; McNally; Shepherd; Ashwin (Captain); Chenoweth; Murley; Newberry; McCoan; Tank

Replacements: Rowe; Knight; Taylor

St Austell:
Tries – Pearce (10); Grigg (38); Shepherd (64; 72)
Cons – Shepherd (2)
Pens –
Drop Goal –

Devonport Services:
Tries – Martin (32); Flowers (42, 75); Attis (59); Mano Tatikoisuva (44)
Cons – Attis
Pens –
Drop Goal –

Yellow Cards:
St Austell: None
Devonport Services: None

Red Cards
St Austell: None
Devonport Services: None

Referee: Mr Marc Simon (Devon RRS)

Saints Man of the Match: Matt Shepherd