Redruth 29 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 25

Despite horrendous problems in getting to the game, Stortford started the game much the quicker of the two sides and, although losing second row, Matt Tomlinson to injury after only 5 minutes (replaced by Jon George)soon went into a 5 point lead, when Nick Hankin rounded off a move built on quick hands after a lineout on halfway. The visitors continued to dominate and, after a penalty shot at goal went wide on 12 minutes, the ball was spread wide from the resultant dropout and debutant winger, Joss Linney stepped in from the halfway line and ran diagonally crossfield to outpace all defenders and touch down close to the posts, from which Marcus Cattell was able to convert. It took only another 2 minutes for a further 5 points to be added to Stortford’s tally, when hooker, Sam James rounded off a great move started by a tremendous dummy and break by Cattell on his own 22, supported by Hankin. At 0-17 up, the visitors looked in control, but a crucial decision after 31 minutes to award a penalty to Redruth close to the Stortford line, apparently for collapsing a maul, which appeared to be moving in the visitors’ favour brought a yellow card to tighthead prop, Sean Edwards. With only 7 men in the scrum, two subsequent front row offences brought a clear penalty try and 7 points to Redruth. Worse was soon to follow, when replacement tighthead, Declan Caulfield was also yellow carded for a breakdown offence in midfield. The final score of the half, nevertheless went to Stortford, when Mark McCraith, after 45 minutes stepped inside to barrel over for a try after some excellent team handling, built upon two powerful bursts from Linney. The conversion attempt from only narrowly wide of the posts, unfortunately cannoned back off an upright to leave the score at the break at 7-22.

Playing towards hellfire corner in the second half, Redruth seemed to gain a second wind and, without needing to use the topographical advantage they had, the home side dominated the first 15 minutes, during which Edwards had to leave the field again – this time to an injury, from which he was unable to return. Despite stubborn Stortford defence, a try finally came Redruth’s way via a second penalty try after 12 minutes following further problems at 5 metre scrums, taking the score to 14-22. The gap was reduced to only 3 points a mere 4 minutes later with a rather fortuitous try, after the visitors’ back three failed to deal with a testing crosskick into their 22 and a good bounce from a speculative flyhack left fullback, Tom Notman with a clear path to the line. The conversion attempt from out wide fell short. 22 minutes into the half and the gap was stretched again to 6 points via a penalty goal to Cattell from under the posts, after another excellent run by Linney had set up position. Stortford almost closed the game out after about 30 minutes, when Hankin flyhacked almost to the Redruth line, after he had charged down a kick in midfield. Unfortunately, having outpaced the covering defenders, in stooping at pace to gather a low bouncing ball, he stumbled over and one of the 3 supporting players, in their anxiety to recycle the ball in the face of a spreadeagled defence knocked on to snuff out the threat. The gap instead was all but closed after 37 minutes, when home No 8, Matt O’Leary scored an unconverted try out wide, supporting a great blind side break by his scrumhalf off a Redruth scrum on the Stortford 22. The final minutes were extremely tense, as the home side threw everything into a concerted attack on Stortford territory, but were held out by some equally determined tackling. A potentially crucial mistake was made though when, after 42 minutes, Stortford managed to tackle a Redruth player into touch on the visitors’ 22, but then chose to throw long at the lineout and, although the hooker’s throw was a good one, Redruth were able to win a clean ball and embark on a further assault on the Stortford line. The final blow to Stortford’s hopes fell after some more heroic defence had repelled attack after attack on their line, when the ball was finally turned over, but the referee called play back for a penalty, for which he had played at least 4 minutes of advantage. Redruth, now confident in their dominance of the set piece, opted for a scrum, but it took many phases and some strong running from both forwards and backs, before room was made for replacement wing, Rhodri McAtee to force his way over for a try on the touchline after 48 minutes – not surprisingly, the last action of the match. The unconverted try took the final score to 29-25. Two more bonus points to Stortford, but these represented scant reward for a tremendous team performance, which many of the more objective home supporters conceded had deserved better.