Saturday, December 15

Duchy Plate (semi-final)

Bude seconds 16

St Austell seconds 10

BUDE seconds reached the Duchy Plate Cup final after overcoming their St Austell counterparts in a battle in the mud at Bencoolen Meadow on Saturday.

St Austell arrived in North Cornwall with 14 men, but luckily, unlike the weeks building up to this game, Bude had 22 players available so to keep it even, Bude’s Luke Aunger very kindly offered to play for the opposing team. Conditions were never going to allow for a fast-flowing game but nevertheless both teams tried their best to move the ball around.

Bude were first to put points on the board from a penalty from Will Pharo.

Close to the quarter-hour, St Austell cleared their lines with a deep kick into Bude’s 22 and with a good chase managed to score a try, but not convert.

St Austell gave away another penalty not long after this which Pharo slotted to make it 6-5.

There was a good battle going on with both sides showing some good defence. Persistent pressure from Bude saw the man of the moment Pharo make a break into St Austell’s 22; breaking a few tackles to go over the line in the corner.

Unfortunately, St Austell had an injury to their prop, but as they had no replacements, two Bude players stepped up to help out, firstly Alex Robinson and the Mark Kendrick.

With a good few phases from the forwards, Bude’s prop Tony Price went over in the corner for a try just before half-time to make it 16-5.

The second-half saw St Austell with the wind behind them which they used to their advantage pinning Bude into their 22 for long periods and eventually breaking through Bude’s defence to score a try, making it 16 – 10 with ten minutes remaining on the clock.

St Austell piled on the pressure but Bude’s defence was superb. Bude worked their way down the pitch by keeping the ball in the forwards and picking up and going, which meant St Austell could only defend until the final whistle.

Bude —

Tries: Pharo, Price

Convs: N/A

Pens: Pharo 2

Bude’s man-of-the-match: Will Hockridge