Title hopes all but over in damaging defeat!

After the previous week’s heroics in beating league leaders Chew Valley and runaway Western Counties Champions Wadebridge Camels, St Austell came back down with a heavy bump on the hard Crediton earth. Two tough games in four days had clearly taken its toll and the Saints looked weary in the legs and tired in the mind and they simply could not match the physicality and fire of the home side. The Cornishmen were under pressure for long periods but their dogged resistance restricted Crediton to just 19 points going into the final ten minutes. The Saints mustered themselves to score two late tries to grab a losing point that had seemed a very unlikely prospect on the balance of play. Bizarrely it was Crediton who were relieved to hear the final whistle given the seismic shift in momentum.

It is not often that the Saints arrive at Exhibition Road to be met with glorious sunshine and a hard pitch, there was not a speck of mud anywhere in sight! The opening exchanges were played at a frenetic pace with the home side setting their stall out from the start with some big carries and hard hits. Over exuberance lead to a late tackle on winger Cavan Boyer allowing the Saints to kick to touch deep into the home 22. The initial catch and drive was held but the Saints retained control of the ball to launch a succession of pick and goes close to the Crediton line. The aggressive home defence held firm and after seven phases Saints were penalised for holding on and the danger was cleared. A misplaced clearance kick from the Saints was gathered on halfway and some hard running by the Crediton forwards delivered a big territorial gain. The pressure mounted and the visiting defence became stretched and it was the appropriately named Devon Hosegood who came in off his wing to finish off the good work. The conversion was duly added by fly half Ollie Avery-Wright (7-0). A high tackle on scrum half Dan Tyrrell allowed the Saints to establish another lineout platform in the home 22. This time the ball was spread wide, and the visitors looked to have breached the defence only for the ball to go agonisingly just beyond Fraser Nottle’s outstretched fingertips. This was to prove to be the Saints’ last meaningful attack of the half as they spent the remaining 25 minutes manning the defensive barricades. The Cornish scrum was coming under increasing pressure, but the dogged resistance was keeping Crediton away from the try line, limiting the home side to just two Ollie Avery-Wright long distance penalties by the interval (13-0).

The pattern was repeated in the second half and for all their dominance Crediton were struggling to fashion any try scoring opportunities in the face of a stoic Cornish rearguard. Their best chance came on 51 minutes when a chink of light appeared out wide, but the Saints cover was just able to force the attack into touch. Scrum dominance was giving the home side a rich source of possession and Crediton kept the scoreboard ticking with two long range penalties (19-0), but crucially they missed two others. Saints dug deep to go on the front foot and finally got some accuracy into their play to deliver a run of high tempo phases that brought them under the Crediton posts with seven minutes remaining. Fly half Chris Ashwin darted for the line and a sublime offload to the supporting Rory Jago allowed the flanker to power over. Chris Ashwin’s quickly taken drop-goal conversion meant there was plenty of time left for the Saints to go after another try. Crediton tried to pin the visitors back in their own half forcing the Saints to run from deep. With the clock ticking down the Cornishmen showed great patience as they retained possession while eager to avoid any infringement that might deliver a scrum or a penalty to Crediton. Deep into time added on, the visitors poured through a slither of a gap out wide, Fraser Nottle received the ball just inside the Saints’ 40m and then chipped his opposing winger before gathering the ball tight to the touchline on the Crediton 10m to sprint and pass inside to CJ Boyce. The Saints full back was cut down by a covering tackler but his off-load to the supporting Ben Plummer gave the centre a clear run to touch down under the posts. Chris Ashwin’s conversion made it 19-14 and was immediately followed by the final whistle.

This was a tough day for the Saints, the attritional nature of the last few bweeks has meant a lengthening injury list. The loss of Archie Bees with a broken hand after just 10 minutes added further disruption to a much-changed side, although the return of long-term absentees Max Bullen and Rory Jago does provide some cheer. Defeat means that the Saints title hopes are effectively over as they would require Chew Valley and Lydney to both lose their final games. The season now boils down to two Cup Finals, first up is Launceston in the Cornwall County Cup at Redruth on Easter Saturday (KO 5pm). A week later they face Devonport Services at home in the final league game of the season where the winner will secure a top three finish and promotion.

Saints Star Man: Dan Tyrrell – Never gave up and did well to move the ball quickly behind a creaking scrum.

1 Brandon Haque; 2 Miles Davey; 3 Hugh Noott; 4 Mark Vian; 5 Adam Kellow; 6 Rory Jago; 7 Zach Morley; 8 Kyle Marriott; 9 Dan Tyrrell; 10 Chris Ashwin (Capt.); 11 Cavan Boyer; 12 Ben Plummer 13 Archie Bees; 14 Fraser Nottle; 15 CJ Boyce
Reps (All used):
Joe Maunder; Archie Rolls; Max Bullen

St Austell:
Tries – Rory Jago (73); Ben Plummer (80+4)
Cons – Chris Ashwin (73; 80+4)
Pens –
Drop Goal –

Crediton:
Tries – Devon Hosegood (7)
Cons – Ollie Avery-Wright (7)
Pens – Ollie Avery-Wright (7)
Drop Goal –

Yellow Cards:
St Austell: None
Crediton: None

Red Cards:
St Austell: None
Crediton: None