Saturday, December 1

Tribute Cornwall Two

Redruth Albany 3

CAMELFORD finally got a full team together to play the resurgent Redruth Albany and began the festive season with a well-deserved win at Lane End.

From the start ‘the Ford’ played with better structure than they have managed to date. Their gameplan was a simple one of getting forward dominance as soon as possible. From the outset it was the home side’s forwards, who did dominate the proceedings and this proved to be the pattern for the whole of this game.

Early pressure from the home boys saw Albany pushed back into their 22. A failed clearance kick landed in the arms of Camelford’s right winger, Karl Lovell. He made an impressive drive to score to be well tackled inches short. From the resulting lineout, ‘the Ford’ created a maul and man-of-the-match Dave Evans scored his first try for his club. Dan Stuckey was not quite able to slot the extras from a very wide angle.

For the next 20 minutes Albany were a determined bunch and did not want to concede again. Their tackling was superb. No matter what the home team threw at Albany, their resolute defence held firm.

With 30 minutes gone, Camelford had failed to capitalise on their dominance up front and Albany gained confidence as they pushed deep into enemy territory. Camelford were penalised for a side entry into the ruck and a yellow card was shown to Matt Dyson; a clear case of mistaken identity, but a correct decision. The resultant penalty was easily kicked by Albany.

The pressure was applied by Albany, but Camelford stood firm with some dogged defence for the next eight minutes. Eventually the Ford cleared their lines and proceeded to work back into the Albany danger zone.

Great forward pressure saw another try for Camelford as hooker Martyn Baker dotted down in the corner. The angle was a bit too acute for Stuckey as his second conversion was missed.

The first period ended with the home side only 10-3 up due predominantly to Albany’s tremendous tackling.

From the restart Albany seized a bit of the initiative as they ran hard at Camelford. Determination saw the hosts resist the onslaught and they were able to get a number of turnovers, which eventually gave them the opportunity to clear their lines and regain some structure.

Both teams played some good competitive rugby as the game developed, but it was Camelford’s forwards who were dominant.

A small fracas on 50 minutes saw a yellow card for a back row from each team. This did not diminish the game in any way as the two sides continued to work.

Once again Camelford got their structure right with some good rucking and mauling. On 68 minutes Camelford were rewarded for their hard work when Albany infringed at a ruck just 25 metres from their line and Stuckey secured another three points with the penalty.

The pressure was inevitably going to pay dividends and so it did on 79 minutes. An excellently controlled scrum for Camelford, 15 metres from the visitors’ line, saw an excellent drive to within inches of the line.

Camelford’s scrum-half, Lee Grimes, spotted the opening when Albany joined the scrum to stop the Ford’s surge. He pounced on the ball and nipped in for the third try. Stuckey kicked an excellent conversion to make the final score 20-3.

Club president, Nic Osborne, said: “Hopefully this win will be an encouragement to ‘the Ford’ as they enter the pre-Christmas set of league games, starting with Saturday’s trip to St Agnes.”

Camelford —

Palmer, Lovell, Plummer, Dyson, Martin, Stuckey, Grimes; Burnard, Baker, Yeatman, Evans, Belsey, Schofield, Roach, Headon

Tries: Evans, Baker, Grimes

Convs: Stuckey

Pens: Stuckey

Camelford’s man-of-the-match: Dave Evans