Redruth Albany........................5
Liskeard/Looe..........................53
ON a blustery afternoon, Liskeard/Looe 1st XV travelled down to Redruth Albany for their League match in Cornwall Division One. The pitch was found to be in surprisingly good condition considering the amount of rain over the last few weeks.
Liskeard/Looe started well with some good driving play by the pack. The strong back row of Mark Goldsmith, Mat Palmer and Stuart Alldritt were to the fore punching holes into the Albany defence. Only some good smother tackles kept Liskeard/Looe from scoring. After 15 minutes Marcus Hill punished the opposition by kicking a penalty awarded against an Albany player for killing the ball.
Continued pressure by the forwards and some good handling moves by backs brought its rewards when scrum-half Andrew Harris broke close to the scrum and using his strength forced his way over the line for a try. Marcus Hill kicked the conversion giving Liskeard/Looe a 10-0 advantage.
During the period of play leading up to half time, Liskeard/Looe failed to turn pressure into points through good defence by the opposition and too many enforced errors mainly knock-ons and lapses in concentration.
The second half saw Liskeard/Looe playing into a moderate wind and up the slope. Good kicking by the Albany stand-off half kept Liskeard/Looe at bay for a short period but the strength of the scrummaging and secure line-out ball wore the opposition down and attacking opportunities presented themselves. Loose-head prop and senior member in the side Paul Mason suddenly found himself with ball in hand and the way to the try line clear. Accelerating through the gap he touched down after a 25 meter sprint. Marcus Hill converted.
After this the play was mostly one way with Phil Goldsmith scoring two tries Andrew Harris and Paul Mason another each. Marcus Hill converted two as Liskeard led 41-0. Albany were not dead yet and using the wind to set up a good attacking position on Liskeard/Looe's 22 meter line they ran the ball wide and Andy Matthews scored some five meters in from touch.
Liskeard/Looe regrouped and replacement Sean Wells having come on for the injured Kevin Bunkum penetrated the opposition line more than once and was unlucky not to score. However, Mat Palmer latched onto a fine three-quarter move and drove himself over the line.
This was followed by a penalty try awarded by the referee for collapsing the scrummage. Marcus Hill converted taking Liskeard's tally to over 50. A number of other players came close to getting on the score sheet none more so than Julian Shakerly who after a sparkling solo run down the right wing and over the try line was adjudged to have put a foot on the dead ball line before grounding the ball.
Liskeard/Looe played well against a below par Redruth Albany and will need to continue to maintain this form and work on tightening their game in a number of areas.
Next Saturday Liskeard/Looe entertain St Day at Lux Park kick off 2:30pm in the last league game before Christmas.
Stithians......................................17
Callington................................26
THIS home match for Callington was hastily re-arranged to be played at Stithians because of a waterlogged pitch at Duchy College. Opting to play into a strong wind, Callington were on the defensive for most of the first half.
Infringements at rucks brought Stithians two early penalties to move into a 6-0 lead. However, Callington used their possession well and driving play by the forwards took play to the Stithians line. When the ball was then released to the backs, Chris Rowse broke a tackle to cross for a try which remained unconverted.
The remainder of the half belonged to Stithians. Two further, long-range penalties took them into a 12-5 lead and this was capped by a try from outside-half Jim Gillies who, from a line out, cut back to the forwards, broke two tackles and crossed in the corner. The try was not converted but the 17-5 scoreline put Stithians in a strong position at half-time.
Callington started the second half strongly, avoiding over-reliance on kicking with the wind and driving at the Stithians defence to set up good attacking positions. From a quickly taken penalty, the ball was passed to Paul Cioffi who drove to the Stithians posts. When tackled, he passed to Jeremy Jones who released Chris Rowse to cross unopposed for a second try, which was converted by Jeremy Jones.
The pattern continued, with Callington establishing themselves in the Stithians defender was tackled in front of his posts, excellent work from John Pritchard smuggled the ball back for Callington and Paul Cioffi picked up the ball to sprint over for a try under the posts, converted by Jeremy Jones to put Callington into a 19-17 lead.
They were not finished there and, from another quickly taken penalty, Mark Jacobs ran at the Stithians defence, passing to Jeremy Jones, who this time dummied his pass and crossed under the posts himself. He converted his own try to extend the lead to 26-17.
Stithians made efforts to pull themselves back into the game but were restricted to two late penalty attempts which both missed, leaving Callington with an excellent win which demonstrated the level of consistency and resilience that Callington have developed in their game this year.
On Saturday, Callington finish the first half of the league season with a game at Veor, who have recently been showing an improvement in their form and will offer a difficult test.
Lankelly-Fowey....................0
Illogan Park.........................62
THE Park had this Cornwall Two game wrapped up by the interval but Lankelly can take heart from their second half performance when they introduced several new players who, with experience, could be the answer to the Fowey side's current player shortage problems. Lankelly heads never went down and determined tackling plus great enthusiasm ensured that Illogan knew they had been in a game.
Ex-Cornwall winger Peter Deseta scored four tries for the visitors. Jensen Keen (3), Peter Graver (2), Graham Will, Sean Maddern and Mark Williams scored the remainder of their tries with Stephen Rhys kicking a solitary conversion.
Mini Under-11s
Liskeard/Looe
show promise
Liskeard/Looe............................7
Bodmin...........................................14
ON Sunday Liskeard fielded a full side of 12 players, although some were borrowed from Redruth. Liskeard welcomed two new players, Daniel Keeling and Chris Wadge. Daniel was thrown in at the deep end and ended up in the second row, this was his first experience of rugby and he had a good game. Chris had previous experience and he made some excellent and important tackles.
The first half saw Liskeard putting on the pressure and cause the Bodmin defence some problems. They were soon rewarded with an excellent try by Oliver Nance which was successfully converted by John Burns. Liskeard's scrum had experienced changes for this match and performed well. Daniel Yeatman at second row grows in confidence, as does hooker Daniel Torrs. Jan Spierings had another fine game making lots of ground and putting in excellent tackles.
Bodmin stepped up a gear in the second half and it was Liskeard's turn to defend. Daniel Watt, Jake Francis and Adam Whittington worked hard trying to break through for Liskeard but most of their time was spent tackling. Simon Watt played well picking up loose ball on several occasions. Bodmin scored twice and the tries were successfully converted to give them the lead. Liskeard worked hard and were unlucky not to score just before the final whistle.
Kingsbridge.................................36
Liskeard/Looe..............................7
AFTER a long journey Liskeard did not appear to know that they were playing rugby as within seconds Kings had broken through and scored a converted try. More of the same followed and Liskeard were soon losing by 26 points.
The second half was very different. Liskeard kept their shape and the scrum of Evan Klopp, Simon Watt and Jan Spierings plus two of Kings men won some good ball.
Siobhan Stribley had another excellent game linking up well with Adam Whittington and making up good ground. Kings became a little slack and gave away a lot of penalties and it was from one of these that saw Adam run forward with the ball making up good ground and passed to Jan Spierings who dived over the line. John Burns who has developed a good right foot successfully converted it.
Kings broke through Liskeard's defence to score a further two tries. Daniel Watt had another good game even though he was playing in a new position. Daniel Keeling had a good second game as did Chris Wadge. Man of the Match went to Jake Francis for his unceasing efforts in defence.