Saturday, January 5

Cornwall Tribute Two

Perranporth 24

CAMELFORD put in a sterling defensive performance against the league leaders at Lane End before falling to defeat in their first outing of 2019.

The clubs had already met twice this season with Camelford shipping 169 points.

However despite the home side knowing they would have to perform out of their skin to avoid a repeat, they showed a defensive steel not seen in a long time.

From the whistle, Perranporth started brightly, pushing well into the Camelford half of the pitch, they were forced to camp there by a determined defensive display that would continue for at least ten minutes before a well-worked move saw the winger touch down in the corner for the game’s opening score.

The Perranporth onslaught continued but they were finding difficult to break a determined Camelford down. As in previous matches, the Camelford forwards were showing their worth, especially at scrum time.

It took to the last play of the half for Perranporth to add another score again, which as was the case with the first try, came out wide.

At half-time, the hosts were happy with the current state of play but knew they were going to have to improve even further to get any points.

The second 40 started in the same vein with good tackling stopping strong running. This meant that the score remained at 12-0 to the visitors until they grabbed their third try before the hour.

That seemed to snap ‘the Ford’ into gear with some impressive attacking through strong running and good forwards work.

Luke Palmer, playing out of position at fly-half, was having a great game and good running from all the backs was driving Camelford closer and closer to a well-earned score.

After a good ten minutes of persistent attacking, Camelford were awarded a penalty in a very kickable position. Full-back Jack Buckley did the honours to get them on the scoreboard.

The rest of the game continued with Perranporth scoring under the posts to gain the bonus point victory.

After that, the game became a little stagnated and handbags became the order of the final ten minutes.

Even with the loss, Camelford trudged off the pitch proud of the turnaround and the small score against them.

Multiple players could have been awarded the man of the match, Luke Schofield had been a colossus in his first match at hooker, the back-row threesome of Lee Grimes, Dan Yeatman and the Luke Plummer had been excellent and the two Mike’s (Willshire and Burton) had been strong at 12 and 13, but the nod went to Palmer for his assured and controlled display at 10.

Camelford are next in league action when they travel to Redruth Albany on Saturday.

Camelford —

Buckley, Welch, Burton, Willshire, O Plummer, Palmer, Robinson; Baker, Schofield, Burnard, Belsey, Evans, Grimes, Yeatman (captain)

Replacements: Richards, Lovell, Jenkins

Tries: N/A

Convs: N/A

Pens: Buckley

Camelford’s man-of-the-match: Luke Palmer