Saturday, December 14

Tribute Cornwall/Devon League

Truro 32

Bude 28

IEUAN Boon notched his hat-trick with the last play of the game as Bude were denied a famous win at St Clement’s Hill.

The visitors were without backs Callum Bettington and Ryan Butler which meant skipper Olly Denford moved forward to 13 with Brad Thomas filling in at full-back and Liam Goodenough going on the wing, but were able to call upon a strong pack which gave them the platform to compete against the city club who like to throw the ball around at every opportunity.

Truro are gunning for an immediate promotion back to Western Counties (West) but fell behind inside ten minutes. Number eight Joe Wilson spun out of a driving maul and as he was tackled, offloaded to flanker Finley Fry who fell over the line from three metres. Denford slotted the extras.

Truro average over 39 points a game this term and levelled from the restart. The visitors failed to hold on to the ball which was then worked out wide for right-winger James Powell to show a clean pair of heels to the line.

Truro continued to look dangerous with ball in-hand and went in front when a similar move, this time from right to left, ended with Boon going over in the corner from 15 metres out despite the efforts of Rory Hodges. Ashley Hoskin missed his second conversion (10-7).

Bude were winning the forwards battle and ensured they went into the break with a four-point lead.

From a home scrum in their own 22, player/coach Angus Hodges managed to stand up number eight Jack Tidball, ensuring Bude found themselves in a brilliant position to score from the resulting scrum. Bude pushed the visitors to within five metres of their own line when Wilson picked it up, dummy passed it to Goodenough on the left-wing before crashing over. Denford notched his second of four successful kicks.

Truro started brightly after the restart and within five minutes Hoskin had smashed over a penalty. Truro were soon in front as full-back Luke Tidball ran down the left-wing from 40 metres. Hoskin slotted the extras for a six-point cushion.

With 20 minutes to go it appeared as if the hosts could accelerate away, but Bude’s dominant pack mustered another unstoppable driving maul from ten metres, which was finished off by Wilson.

The city club continued to target the left-hand side and more fast hands allowed Boon to touch down his second (25-21).

Bude finally managed to string some phases together and were awarded a scrum just five metres out. The Blues were pushed back over their own line with scrum-half Olly Mounce dotting down for his second try in as many weeks.

Bude controlled the majority of the last five minutes but Wilson was penalised by the referee for kicking the ball out of the scrum as he tried to control it with his feet.

With just over a minute to go, the hosts had no time to think and spread the ball out to the right, where they were tackled on the 22. After the forwards got no joy going up the middle, they again went down the left-hand side where Boon took a pass which Bude felt was forward, before touching down, to record a cruel blow on the visitors who competed superbly throughout.

Angus Hodges admitted he was left with mixed emotions.

He said: “Before the game we’d probably have taken two points away at Truro, but the reality is that we were in front right up to the final play. So it was actually more disappointing that we came so close in the circumstances.

“But from the forwards point of view it was really nice to upset them and we’ll be looking forward to facing them at home later in the season.”

At set-pieces our forwards dominated massively but we could have perhaps worked a bit harder out of possession to give our inexperienced backs a bit more protection.

“But all in all, it was a relatively positive result, all things considered, as we knew it’d be a difficult test, one of the hardest of the season. They’re in good form and looking to go back up.

“We’d also won only one away game so there were a few nerves flying around and we had a slightly changed backline as Callum Bettington and Ryan Butler were unavailable, which meant Olly had to come forward into 13 with Brad Thomas at 15 and Liam Goodenough on the left-wing. They had never played together so it was always going to be tough.”

Hodges believes the contrast between the two sides made it a terrific contest.

He said: ““We had the pack and they had the backs. We were dominant at the set-piece and got the better of them quite comfortably. But on the flip side, they used their backs and made a lot of yards each time. There was a massive difference of playing styles, but it made for a very interesting game.”

Bude head to second bottom Exeter Athletic on Saturday for the start of the return fixtures.

Hodges said: “In the last two away games in a row at South Molton and Truro we’ve put in reasonable performances, so it’d be nice to finish 2019 with our second away win and in the style we’ve been working on.”

Bude —

Thomas, R Hodges, Denford (captain), Hilliam-Cooke, Goodenough, Watton, Mounce; Keat, Bolt, Allin, Kingdon, Williams, A Hodges, F Fry, Wilson.

Replacements: Sobey, Statton, Grigg.

Tries: F Fry, Wilson 2, Mounce.

Convs: Denford 4.

Pens: N/A.

Bude’s man-of-the-match: Chris Allin.