Cornwall and

Devon League

Devonport Services 43pts

Originally left over from the end of January, this match was finally played at the third attempt.

While Saltash expectations might have been higher six weeks ago they were never completely out of the game.

Injury hit and relegation haunted, Saltash found promotion hopefuls Devonport Services too strong behind the front eight. They got off to an early start when Simon Watson landed a fifth minute penalty.

But Saltash then went on to the back foot conceding tries to Brian Chrichton, Martin Jarvis and John Mellor plus two conversions from Mark Slade which enabled Services to register a quick 19 points.

Martin Nicholas turned over a wayward Services ball on his own line, and ran the length of the pitch to dab down under the bar for Watson to add the extras for a

19-10 scoreline keeping Saltash in contention at the halfway mark.

Former Navy winger Les Oman added two tries for Services after the restart and Slade converted one then added try number six.

Saltash came alive for the final quarter as James Woodward dived over with a crash ball on the right, and Marjons student Rob Tasker raced over for a debut try wide on the left before Slade had the final shout for Services as he converted for Mellor

Saltash Res 31pts

Ivybridge III 20

Despite playing uphill in the first half and with 14 men throughout, Saltash changed ends at half time trailing by just one point 7-8 after Grant Brettell converted for Dave Jackson.

And excellent forward play saw them surge into a 26-8 lead after the break with tries from Pete Copeland, Rob Saxby and Grant Brettell who added two convertions from three attempts.

Ivybridge came back with two tries and a conversion to make it 26-20 with ten minutes to go, only for Andy Moir to touch down on the end of a tap penalty move as Saltash made the result safe.

Lankelly-Fowey 5 Perranporth II 57

LANKELLY soldier on bravely fulfilling their fixtures and in this enjoyable friendly against a strong Perranporth side they scored one of their best tries of the season when fly half Chris Renshaw finished off a good movement.

The visitors were more experienced however and ran out easy winners.

U12 County Festival

THE gods conspired against Liskeard at Wadebridge on Sunday at the U12 County Championships.

Not only did they suffer from serious bad luck, but one of their games was officiated by a Redruth man. The first game against St Austell saw Liskeard lose 5-0 but had they just picked the ball of the ground and gone forward they would have won comfortably.

The second game against Bude saw a 5-5 draw.

Tremendous enthusiasm from all the boys with a good turnout from their parents deserved a better reward especially since there were no outstanding teams at the tournament and Liskeard should have progressed much further but unfortunately the gods deemed otherwise.

Truro Ladies 22

Liskeard Ladies 21

IN THEIR third Supertens fixture Liskeard travelled to Truro without the services of Ami Smith, Vicki Saunders, Kelly Edwards, Claire Garrett and Julia Woodman.

This necessitated various positional changes with Jenna Luiten moving to scrum half, Mel Brenton, Rachel Flynn and Marcia Burgess playing in the backs where they were by no means out of place with powerful running and heroic tackling.

Notwithstanding these changes the girls gave 150 per cent effort and matched the experienced Truro side in all departments. The physical strength of the Truro girls and some huge hits on the Liskeard players around the fringes was a significant factor in the game.

Ruth Flynn was under constant pressure at fly-half taking some big hits but bouncing back to thwart several of Truro's inside breaks.

Whenever Liskeard managed to spin the ball wide, their speed and fitness was always a threat to Truro who attempted to keep it close and play a power game.

The charging runs by some of the Truro county players needed some brave and determined tackling and it was only a lack of experience at closing down the angles of running which allowed Truro two 'soft' tries in the second half.

The half time score of seven-all reflected the fact that Liskeard had soaked up a lot of pressure and created several scoring opportunities.

Truro certainly had no answer to the pace of Anna Mallett who scored a hat-trick of tries for Liskeard. Much credit must go to the girls who selflessly created the gaps for these scores, often with excellent handling.

The game was watched by county coaches and selectors who were hugely impressed with Liskeard's gutsy performance, fitness and team spirit. A Supertens county side will be selected from Liskeard and Truro, the only two clubs in Cornwall playing Supertens, to play Devon at Redruth on March 24 and on this showing several Liskeard girls will be in the squad on merit.

Debbie Brooker and Ruth Bott played their first game for Liskeard and turned in solid, dependable performances. Shelly Davis, Lisa Gregson and Gemma Deacon, as always, won lots of ball.

Amy Collins did well, often taking on players twice her size and weight. Mel Box played her usual captain's game, leading by example.

Unfortunately Marcia was taken to hospital with a knee injury and will be out for three-four weeks.

With only six minutes left and eight points adrift, Liskeard really showed what they are made of and scored a superb try, converted by Box whose kicking was faultless.

Time ran out for Liskeard - the Truro girls sportingly admitting that they were flagging as Liskeard's confidence continued to grow.

Congratulations to all involved in the game as it was a very positive advert for womens rugby.

Training this Wednesday 7-8:30pm as usual (two more new players in the last two weeks).

Socially the 'squad sessions' out have been memorable. The trip to Worcester to watch England Ladies demolish Ireland was a good day away and a tour is planned for May!

Liskeard/Looe U10 25

Redruth U10's 10

Liskeard/Looe U10 mini-rugby were at home to a combined Redruth under 9 and 11 team on Sunday.

The home team were keen to return to winning ways after losing the previous week at Camborne.

Liskeard/Looe were at full strength, brimming with enthusiasm and ready to show their true colours.in preparation for the forthcoming U10 festivals at Redruth and Bournemouth.

Within a minute of the start the home team were putting the visitors under pressure.

From just inside the Redruth half the ball was won in the ruck and spun out to Joe Ackland who stormed down the left wing for the first try.

The visitors immediately came back and were unlucky not to score. Good defensive play by Liskeard/Looe kept Redruth out and allowed them to win possession just yards from their own try line.

The ball came out from a maul to Christiern Francis who then weaved and dodged through the Redruth defence for the second try.

Again the visitors came back and this time provided an excellent display of passing rugby to score the next try. The home team won the maul to deliver the ball to Lucy Demaine who ran down the left wing with Sam in support but unfortunately the final pass to Adam Bainbridge was forward.

From the scrum, Liskeard/Looe won the ball and Joe Ackland was able to go over for the third try just before half time.

The second half was played in the same manner with excellent rugby by both teams. Joe Ackland should have scored but after an excellent run gave the ball away close to the try line.

Again Leonard Cooke showed excellent running skills for a forward and managed to keep possession and drive within inches of the try line. Unfortunately, he was penalised for handling on the floor.

However, Liskeard/Looe kept Redruth deep in their half and won the ball back again. From a maul Christiern Francis broke lose and delivered a brilliant pass to Adam 2 who went through the posts for the fourth try.

Redruth again came back to break the home team's defence to score their second try but it wasn't long before Liskeard/Looe created the space for Nick's final try.

Liskeard: Joe Ackland (captain), Adam Bainbridge, Christiern Francis, Lucy Domaine, Carlin 'bulldozer' Champion, Leonard Cooke, Adam 2 Yung, Nick, Sam, Jake Mackay, William Sherwood.

Playing their first match since before Christmas due to bad weather, Liskeard/Looe U8s produced a fine display to beat visitors Redruth 6 -3.

Some strong play in the centre by Jamie Duncan, Michael Champion and new boy Alex Hicks released plenty of ball which allowed George Mitchell, Adam Bedford and Matthew Sherwood (captain) to make full use of their pace and saw Liskeard race to an early three point lead. Despite three tries apiece for Mitchell and Bedford this was very much a team performance and the solid tackling of Edward Blackwell and Ieuan Tucker gave strength to Liskeard's defence and allowed Redruth little chance to get into their stride.

A second game was also played, which gave Ollie Demaine and Fred Allsop the chance to play their part in a 4-3 victory for Liskeard.

With many of the U8s new to rugby at the start of this season, this win showed just how far the team has come. Much of the credit for this goes to coach, John Sherwood, and his assistants Adrian Bedford and Kevin Tucker.

Bodmin U14 0

Liskeard/Looe 24

LISKEARD/LOOE U14s notched up an impressive victory at Bodmin on Sunday.

From the kick off Liskeard set up camp in the home team's half.

Liskeard were awarded a penalty which saw Mike Rawlings power over the line for the first try. Sam Pomeroy, back from injury, scored a superb conversion from far out.

Liskeard continued to pile on the pressure and although Bodmin's pack was larger, Liskeard created openings for Joe Blank, Jonny Dymond and the rest of the backs to keep the ball in the home half.

Rawlings went across the line once more from a well worked move with the ball being passed out by scrum half Josh Goodman.

Graham Crawford and Patrick Devaney played well closing down and making space for Jamie Julian to show his pace with a score on half time converted by Pomeroy.

Bodmin started the second half well but Liskeard kept up the pressure. Hooker Sam Roberts and props Martin Hoare and Ben continued to win the ball in the scrum.

Lineouts were also working well and it was from one that Julian ran for the line to score his second try.

As the under 14s were short of numbers, two under 13s played with the squad and both played a superb game.

The U14s are at home to Newquay on Sunday. Meet at Lux Park at 10.15am.