Saturday, May 5

Two Counties Cup final at Launceston Rugby Club

Launceston 12

Topsham 17

LAUNCESTON Colts were narrowly edged out 17-12 by their Topsham counterparts in the inaugural Two Counties Cup final at Polson Bridge on Saturday.

Both teams had recently won their respective county colts cup finals and were very evenly matched, with the first ten minutes a cagey affair.

The Launceston forwards made great ground and almost scored but for a last minute knock-on.

Topsham then seized on an opportunity to break and raced down field. Despite some excellent defending from the hosts, the Devon side managed to get over the line to open their account.

The home side’s weakness, unusually for them, was their handling error count. This cost them ground and possession numerous times when they were looking dangerous.

The visitors took advantage of this and stretched into a 12-0 lead despite some strong defending again from the Cornishmen.

The second-half started in similar fashion, with the home forwards pressing hard, only to be denied by a poor pass just as they were about to score.

An excellent scrum, won against the head five metres out, enabled Ben Jewell to drive over wide on the left to open the Launceston account. Will Pharo slotted the difficult kick superbly to make it 12-7.

A very messy scrum in Launceston’s own 22, followed by a clearance kick that did not make touch, gave the Devon side the chance to extend their lead again, which they took, to extend their lead back to 10 points.

The handling error count from the Polson Bridge outfit continued to climb throughout the second-half.

However, another excellent stolen scrum allowed full-back Will Cowan-Dickie to break down field, making it to the Topsham 22.

A high ball clearance was well caught in the air by winger Luke Couch, who then handed off strongly and made it back into the visitors half.

The recycled ball was fed nicely along the backs and a long missed pass found replacement Charlie Crichton out on the left, who raced over to close the gap to five points.

With the clock running down the All Blacks continued to press hard. A late penalty kept play going after normal time and Launceston thought they had done enough with the forwards driving over the line multiple times, but the Topsham defence held firm and the final drive was adjudged to be held up.

This was a highly entertaining game watched by a good size crowd for a Colts game. Congratulations were expressed to Topsham on the win and to both sides for putting on a great display of rugby.

Launceston —

Cowan-Dickie, Couch, Pharo (captain), Vanstone, Bebbington, May, Tozer; Gallington, Baker, Short, Cole, Saiosi, Tummon, Jacob, Stansfield

Replacements: Armstrong, Blee, Crichton, Duke, Jewell, Rowland, Sandercock, Turley

Tries: Jewell, Crichton

Convs: Pharo

Pens: N/A