Saturday, September 1

Friendly

St Austell seconds 67

CAMELFORD had hoped to start their tenth anniversary season with an even contest against Redruth Albany in the first group game of the National Senior Vase only to be thwarted when Albany had to forfeit due to a player shortage.

However, St Austell seconds were available and the fixture was arranged, giving ‘the Ford’ a real challenge and a stern test of their preparations for this season.

Despite showing plenty of promise in the forwards, St Austell’s young and athletic backline managed to score twice in the opening 20 minutes following lightning-quick moves.

They added three further tries before the break as some weak tackling contributed to their downfall, which left them 31-0 down and leaving new head coach Tyrone Jordaan with plenty to think about.

St Austell added another straight from the kick-off following some more poor tackling.

From this point Camelford put together an excellent 20 minutes when they realised that a short ball driving game would cause the home side problems.

They pushed St Austell deep into their territory time and again and were occasionally thwarted by an inability to keep the ball in contact. Eventually this passage of good play saw the dividend it deserved as a driving maul gave Dan Yeatman a much-needed try, which Dan Stuckey couldn’t convert.

Camelford continued to push hard but conceded a try when St Austell stole possession close the line.

After that it became a procession, as St Austell took advantage of the tiring visitors to add another four tries, eventually ending with a 67-5 victory.

Camelford will look to put some of what they faced into action on Saturday when they welcome St Just to Lane End (3pm).

Club president, Nic Osborne, said: “The final score of 67-5 was a fair reflection of the ability and speed of the St Austell backs and a need for us to improve some of our tackling.

“There is much for us to work on in preparation for Saturday and much that was good about our forward work.

“With more evenly matched opposition there is an optimism that we’ll be able to use what they have been training for. A real challenge, such as this was, only focuses the squad on what will need to be done in training and on the pitch at the next game.”

Camelford —

Jenkins, Welch, Palmer, Willshire, Buckley, Stuckey, Robinson; Baker, Richardson, Burnard, Evans, Belsey, Roach, Boundy, Yeatman

Replacement: Hawken

Tries: Yeatman

Convs:?N/A

Pens:?N/A