Saturday, January 26

Tribute Cornwall Two

St Just 45

CAMELFORD were made to pay for a poor start as St Just eased to a 45-17 victory in their penultimate league match of the season.

‘The Ford’ was certainly misfiring after their long journey down to West Cornwall and mistakes proved to be too costly for the visitors. The misfire resulted in a slow start for Camelford and St Just were at the race a lot quicker.

St Just notched their first points on seven minutes. They opted for a scrum at a penalty five metres short of the Ford’s line, but lost this against the head. Camelford cleared well, but from the resulting lineout, St Just were able to build a move which resulted in their score; which was well converted for a 7-0 lead.

Camelford pressed hard after this but their misfires saw the ball easily lost on too many occasions. Tackles were missed too as the travellers tried to get the 70-mile journey out of their systems and St Just were able to rebuild their pressure. A good run by the St Just backs resulted in an excellent driving maul which sucked the North Cornwall side in. An easy try resulted as the St Just scrum-half spotted the gap to sprint in from 20 meters. This was converted for a 14-0 lead inside 15 minutes.

St Just went 17-0 up through a well taken penalty before some excellent lines from their backs resulted in a third try on the half hour. Again it was converted.

Camelford responded positively but an error was seized upon once more as St Just ran in from their own half for a fourth try before half-time.

The visitors did at least manage to get on the scoreboard before the break. An excellent passing move put full-back Ollie Plummer in space but he was held up just short of the St Just line. The hosts then gave away a simple penalty which skipper Dan Yeatman took quickly and with the aid of a little dummy he dotted down, but the conversion was missed.

The second half started well for Camelford as they held the home side at bay, but with 12 minutes down St Just capitalised on a scrum that ‘the Ford’ had won against the head. Another loose pass was scooped up and they scored another converted try for a 33-point advantage.

Again this sparked a good response from Camelford and this time they were able to create their own try. Good forward work drove St Just into their own 22 and a neat chip from fly-half Dan Stuckey put the ball on the St Just line. They did not cope well with this allowing Lee Grimes to claim the try. Stuckey converted to give the visitors a touch of hope at 38-12.

Camelford piled on the pressure causing St Just to infringe too often so the home side went under the cosh as Ford pushed for more points.

With nearly 70 minutes of the game played Camelford were desperately trying to gain some respectability on the scoreboard. As they pressured, St Just finally managed to kick out of their half whilst the visitors were attacking. The kick left Plummer isolated with four St Just chasers. He unfortunately failed to field the kick and the four were able to dribble the ball over the line for one to flop down for the score. It was again converted by the fly-half make it 45-12.

To their credit, Camelford continued to bounce back and were awarded a series of penalties. From one of these, Yeatman went over again from a quickly taken opportunity. The conversion went astray leaving the referee to blow for the end of the game with the score at 45-17.

Camelford are scheduled to welcome Helston to Lane End on Saturday in a friendly (2.30pm).

Camelford —

O Plummer, Kennedy, Grimes, Willshire, Welch, Stuckey, Robinson; Baker, Schofield, Burnard, Evans, Belsey, Headon, Roach, Yeatman (captain)

Replacement: Luxton

Tries: Yeatman 2, Grimes

Convs: Stuckey

Pens: N/A

Camelford’s man-of-the-match: Ryan Welch