Hakes Overcome Truro in Cornish Derby
St Ives 41 v 19 Truro
Last Saturday St Ives welcomed Truro to Alexandra Road, for an all Cornish derby in their latest Western Counties West league game. Harry Parton, Jamie Prisk and Liam Jolly returned to the side after missing the trip to Torquay last weekend.
Home debuts and a captain's commitment
Matt Nichol played his first home game. The Helston based player showed considerable energy and willingness from the second row. Matt Holland also made his home debut. Both had travelled to Torquay last week. He also made his mark in the centre after an injury to Tom Nicholas allowed him to show his ability. Centre is a position where the loss of captain Steve Kenward cannot be underestimated. It was great to see him at the game on Saturday, shouting instructions from the dead ball line whenever possible. We trust his recovery will be speedy.
St Ives began the game well instantly putting pressure on the Truro defence and moving the ball around nicely. This was rewarded in only the 2nd minute of the match when Martyn Lawrance crossed for the first try of the match. The conversion was missed to give the Hakes an early 5 points to nil lead.
Truro responded well to the early pressure from the hosts and pushed forward. The St Ives defence looked strong, though, and kept the visitors from making any serious assaults on their try line. Despite their well organised defending, St Ives were penalised by the referee with penalties in the 10th and 16th minutes respectively. Opportunities were successfully kicked by Nick Prout to put Truro ahead after a quarter of an hour by 6 points to 5.
St Ives continued to press home their attacks and always looked capable of scoring tries. In the 20th minute 2nd row Jamie Prisk crashed over from within the 5 metre line to score a try, that was converted by Rhys Brownfield, to put St Ives back in front by 12 points to 6.
The St Ives attacks kept coming and came through the forwards and the back line that were making good in roads into the Truro defence with some strong running. Left wing Pete Mabbott finished off one such move in the 24th minute to put the Hakes 14 points ahead at 19-6 with another Brownfield conversion.
The strong defensive work from St Ives kept the visitors at bay until the last play of the half when Nick Prout kicked another penalty chance to make the half time score St Ives 19, Truro 9.
The first period of the second half was all about the St Ives attacking play with little or no reply from the visitors. Mabbott grabbed his 2nd try with a score almost directly after the referee had restarted the match. No conversion this time, but the Hakes now held a strong grip on the match at 24 points to 9. However, tribute must be given to a Truro side who were dominating possession. Their ball retention produced multi-phase attacks, which were competently dealt with by strong tackling and solid team play.
The next score from the Hakes came after an excellent break down the left wing when Pete Mabbott and Tom Nicholas combined well allowing the latter to score the try. Truro fell victim of a poor clearance. A Brownfield conversion extended the St Ives lead by another 7 points to 31-9 to put the result beyond any reasonable doubt after 46 minutes.
Second hat trick
Pete Mabbott bagged his third try of the match in the 65th minute to cap a fine performance and move the score on to St Ives 36, Truro 9. Peter scored a hat trick in his last outing, against Sidmouth on 14th October. The strong defensive work continued which denied Truro any chance of points despite their best efforts.
Martyn Lawrance, finished off the scoring for the hosts in the 70th minute to put the Hakes in front by 32 points but it was Truro who finished the game off with a flurry of points. A series of penalties helped Truro maintain pressure. St Ives relaxed. At Last Truro found a way to the try line, without squandering the situation with poor passing.
In the 73rd minute Truro right wing Josh Simmons squeezed in for an unconverted try and in the last play of the match Truro left wing Ian Rowe squeezed in on the other side for another unconverted try to end the match with St Ives winning comfortably by 41 points to 19.
This performance from St Ives was a much more convincing display following last week’s defeat away to Torquay. The result sees them maintain 3rd place in the league 3 points behind both St Austell and Devonport Services who top the table on 37 points. Wadebridge Camels managed to keep Devonport Services to a bonus point draw. For all the results you can go to the league page of the website.
The Hakes are back in action this coming Saturday with a long trip to Burnham-on-Sea. This proved to be a banana skin with the home side taking the points last year. Kick off in Burnham is scheduled for 2:30pm; any travelling support would be very welcome.
St Ives: Ben Jenkins, Rob Elloway, Ben Taylor, Jamie Prisk, Matt Nichol, Harry Parton, Sean Stevens, Martyn Lawrance, Liam Jolly, Paul Thirlby, Peter Mabbott, Rhys Brownfield, Tom Nicholas, Jacob Ninnes, Grant Thirlby.
Replacements: Tom Chandler, Joel Ninnes, Matt Holland (All Used).
