Cornwall Two League

Camelford 11

Stithians 3

Lane End

BOTH teams were missing players to the armchair or to Twickenham for the Six Nations weekend, but the game, as expected, proved to be a close encounter where forward domination was crucial.

With an icy cold wind behind them Stithians made the most of the first ten minutes of the first half and cleverly kept Camelford in their own 22 with some fine positional kicking. With Camelford taking a while to settle they gave away their first penalty after just seven minutes but Stithians missed the kick letting the Ford off the hook.

Ten minutes later the Ford infringed again only 18 meters from their line. This time Stithians took the lead with an easy kick.

This was the injection of energy Camelford needed and they quickly took control of the opening half. They began to open the game up and ran the ball well into Stithians territory. Cold hands clearly had an effect as a number of handling errors prevented them from getting over the white wash for a try.

The pressure took its toll on the Stithians gallant defence and they conceded a penalty 30 metres out. Rich Jasper coolly slotted the kick to bring the scores level. Camelford maintained the pressure playing against the wind but could not finish off a number of excellent incursions so the half finished at three-a-piece.

With the wind behind them, which was becoming increasingly cold, Camelford set about pinning Stithians in their own half. To their credit Stithians coped well with some of the deep kicking from Ian Worsnip, Matt Dyson and Rich Jasper. Their full-back had a busy time but was able to push Camelford back on a number of occasions.

The Ford forwards began to turn the screw with some excellent counter rucking. This resulted in another opportunity for Jasper seven minutes into the half and he duly converted the penalty.

There was a long period of intense pressure by the home side but they were guilty of not being able to turn this pressure into points. To both sides credit they were attempting to play the game as it should be; three quarters running the ball and forwards trying to set up good platforms. It was good for the cold spectators and eventually led to a great try for Camelford on 60 minutes. Jasper finished off a great backs move which was possible due to a fantastic counter maul by the Ford’s pack. He missed his conversion but had now accumulated a personal 11 points total.

Stithians were not about to let this game die and worked hard to escape their half of the field. For a while Camelford became sloppy and gave away a number of silly penalties, giving Stithians confidence and they began to apply the pressure.

Camelford’s defence was up for the challenge and Stithians were forced into errors in attack. Great counter attacking skills by the Ford’s evergreen full-back Worsnip got them out of their half on numerous occasions as the away side tried to gain ground through some deep kicking.

The final whistle went and it was a welcome sound for the Camelford men who had put in a fine display.