St Ives Take Victory in Final League Game
Cullompton 38 v 48 St Ives
St Ives travelled to Devon side Cullompton for their final South West One West league game last Saturday. The Hakes travelled with a strong squad welcoming back Peter Mabbott and Lewis Vinnicombe from injury.
It was Cullompton who made the better start but in bizarre fashion. They were awarded a penalty kick when St Ives was caught offside. The kick fell short, but the St Ives players did not react and the Cullompton players followed up, gathered the ball and scored the opening try of the match. The conversion was added and the home side held an early 7 points to nil lead after only 3 minutes play.
St Ives came to life after this and dominated the remainder of the first half. On 13 minutes a penalty was despatched to the corner and from the resulting line out a maul was formed that powered its way over the Cullompton line for the Hakes opening try scored by Rob Elloway. Grant Thirlby kicked the conversion to level the scores at 7 points each.
Jack Kessell was next on the score sheet with an un-converted try in the 22nd minute before Elloway grabbed his second try of the match when he intercepted a wayward Cullompton pass in the 26th minute to run in under the posts. Thirlby converted again to extend St Ives lead to 19 points to 7.
St Ives scored their fourth and bonus point scoring try in the 38th minute through their Captain Tom Nicholas, again with Thirlby converting to make the half time score Cullompton 7, St Ives 26.
In the second half it was Cullompton who once again scored first with a converted try in the 42nd minute. (14-26)
St Ives Captain Tom Nicholas then crossed the whitewash for the second time in the match with an un-converted try in the 51st minute to make the score 14-31.
The home side exploited some rather lacklustre defending from the St Ives players in the remainder of the half and went on to score four more tries before the final whistle two of which were converted.
The Hakes did enough to ensure victory in the match with 3 more tries of their own through Chris Fuca, Dan Magee and a third for Skipper Tom Nicholas. Only one of these was converted to make the score when the referee brought the game to an end Cullompton 38, St Ives 48.
This result sees St Ives finish the season in 6th place in the South West One West League table 2 points behind 5th placed North Petherton and 11 points above 7th placed Lydney.
St Ives have one last match left to play in the 2018/19 season; the Cornwall Knockout Cup Final which takes place this week on Good Friday at Redruth RFC. Their opponents are the side who they narrowly defeated in last year’s final, Wadebridge Camels. Kick off in Redruth is scheduled for 3:30pm; any support for the Hakes would be very welcome.
St Ives: Ben Taylor, Rob Elloway, Ben Jenkins, Jamie Prisk, Chris Fuca, Joji Volaisaya, Aden Brassington, Martyn Lawrance, Liam Jolly, Adam Hosking, Joe Parma, Grant Thirlby, Tom Nicholas (Captain), Lewis Vinnicombe, Jack Kessell.
Replacements: Peter Mabbott, Dan Magee, Connor Bick (All Used).
