Bill Hooper’s Cornish Roundup

If only Cornwall could play all her matches in the grand old Duchy……… Once again Cornwall came unstuck away from home this time at the home of rugby Twickenham at the ridiculously early hour of 10 am.

Whereas Cornwall looked to be suffering from a severe form of collective jet lag or coach lag, Northumberland started with a bang, which apart from a short spell during the second half, they didn’t let up until the final whistle.

Despite the early hour there was a fantastic turn out of Cornish supporters gathered in the Lower West Stand at Twickenham led by the Falmouth Marine Band to greet the team as they ran out onto the pitch.

All too soon play was settling down towards the Cornish 22 as Northumberland looked for early points, those points came after 10 mins of pressure as Cornwall missed a tackle allowing full back Jack Smales to score in the corner, Newcastle Falcons academy player Gavin Beasley missed with the conversion, frustratingly for the Northern county he only managed two successful kicks all morning. Beasly did kick a penalty to stretch his side lead to 8-0 after 19 minutes as Cornwall continued to struggle to find any pattern to their game, loose passes, far too much ball turned over at the breakdown, basic errors did nothing to help calm the nerves of the Cornishmen. Mark Richards for one was putting in some try-saving tackles as the defences creaked under the pressure. Mark Scrivener managed to get Cornwall on the board with a penalty,it got worse on the half-hour mark as winger Lewis Vinnicombe made a hash of a clearence from near his own line, his sliced kick falling into the grateful arms of prop Jonathan Williams who fed Beasley for a simple score. Poor Lewis, it brought back memories of Barry Trevaskis’ mistake against Durham in 1989, Beasley couldn’t add the extras, whilst Scrivener pulled three points back before half-time to leave the northeners 13-6 up. Both sides stayed out on the pitch for half-time as some bright spark at Twickenham decided to regal us with Blaydon races on the tannoy!

Cornwall badly needed to get the first score in the second half, but it was more of the same as Northumberland continued to dictate, indeed they added a third try following a fine pass from Beasley found prop Rupert Harding who passed to lock Andrew Murray to score, at 18-6 the game looked beyond Cornwall. To their immense credit and sheer pride, Cornwall spent the next ten minutes having a good go at Northumberland, Richard Carroll leading the charge, with No 8 Sam Hocking not far behind. The long hard season was beginning to take it’s toll on the Cornish lads, but then there was a glimmer of hope, Jamie Semmens went to ground just meters out from the corner, luckily Paul Thirlby was on hand to dive over and score Cornwall’s try, at 18-11, Beasley’s misses at goal gave Cornwall a sniff, only for it to be snuffed out moments later as Beasley’s cross-field kick fell invitingly into the arms of winger Peter Cole who scored Northumberland’s fourth try, Beasley finally kicked a conversion and although Cornwall battled bravely to the final whistle, Northumberland were clearly several lengths ahead at the finishing post. For Cornwall it was another defeat at the home of rugby, however we did win the singing in the lineout bar post-match!

NORTHUMBERLAND 25 PTS

Tries- J. Smales, Beasley, Murray, Cole, Conversion - Beasley, Penalty - Beasley

CORNWALL 11 PTS

Try - Thirlby, Penalties - Scrivener (2)

NORTHUMBERLAND 25 - 11 CORNWALL

Cornwall’s points Try Paul Thirlby, 2 Penalties Mark Scrivener

Report to follow

With just over 40 hours to go to the 10 am kick-off on Sunday, all of Cornwall are on tenterhooks as they wait to hear if one of their favourite sons, Matt Jess, will be allowed by his new employers, Exeter Chiefs, to line up with his Cornish team mates on the hallowed turf of Twickenham on Sunday morning. We are told that talks are on-going between CRFU Hon.Sec Alan Mitchell and Director of Rugby at Exeter Chiefs Peter Drewett, on the one hand a passionate advocate of county rugby on the other a DoR who has a greater agenda on his mind namely promotion to the Guinness Premiership next season with the Devon side. Mr. Mitchell will need all his delicate negotiating skills to pull this particular coup off, I wish him luck.

Poor old Matt Jess has already been forced to withdraw from the England Counties squad, which flies out to North America on Monday for a three match tour.

Dave Benji Thomas, though obviously disappointed at the probable loss of Jess will not have time to dwell on it. Cornwall will not be travelling to make up the numbers, they travel to win. There is sure to be a sizeable Cornish contingent in the mighty West Stand at Twickenham come 10 am on Sunday morning and they will singing to lift the rafters off and get right behind the boys. Trelawny’s Army and the formidable Falmouth Marine Band having travelled up to London on Saturday will be leading the support for the boys and will back them from first to last whistle.

Can Cornwall do it? Of course they can, that is not to diminish the threat of a fine Northumberland side who have played some very fine rugby to reach Twickenham having won all three of their pool matches.

The excitement heightens by the minute, just like Trevethick’s steam engine, pressure will be fully stoked up by 10 am Sunday just waiting to be released. Will “Goin Up Camborne Hill” be resounding around Twickers come the final whistle? I think so.

UP CORNWALL

Please note, both coaches to Twickenham are now FULLY-BOOKED we are unable to take any further bookings for the Shield Final.

The day after the County Shield final at Twickenham, Cornish All Black, Matt Jess will be jetting off to North America on the England Counties tour to USA and Canada. Jess is no stranger to the England Counties set-up having toured twice previously to Canada and South America.

Matt is the only Cornish player named in the touring party.

Cornwall are back at Twickenham following a 43-0 win over Eastern Counties on Saturday at Camborne.

It was all over by half-time as the Black & Golds raced into a 36-0 lead at the break. Just like last week at Hertford Cornwall scored an early try an absolute beauty with “made in Launceston” written all over it, Scrivener, Perry, Westren to Jess to score, what a start. Scrivener’s conversion the first of six successful kicks, only one conversion missed all afternoon before the Launceston fly-half had to leave the field with a nasty eye injury. Unlike last week Cornwall went from strength to strength steadily building on their lead throughout the opening period. Ten minutes were barely up before Cornwall had a second try scored by No8 Sam Hocking as Cornwall took a heal against the head in the Counties 22, the young No8 breaking off and powering over from close range. Scrivener kept the scoreboard ticking over with a second conversion and a penalty after 21 minutes. Paul Thirlby put a stop to the Launceston points scoring by squeezing in the clubhouse corner for Cornwall’s third try following another flowing move. A few moments later Thirlby was on hand to get his second try of the game. Cornwall’s fifth try came from Mount’s Bay’s Ben Hilton. Half-time 36-0 the game was as good as over.

Cornwall completed their scoring early in the second half with a wonderful individual effort from Redruth flyer Lewis Vinnicombe who showed real pace in carving his way through the Counties defence. Cornwall brought on their bench players during the second half and the intensity dipped naturally, Eastern Counties had periods of pressure but couldn’t breech the Cornish line as the Cornish defence held firm. Matt Jess was the victim of a nasty looking tackle, which rightly saw the offending Counties player sent to the sin bin, it was an isolated moment in a game played in good spirit by both sides, in the end Counties had to acknowledge that on the day they had been well-beaten by the better side.

Having mentioned the try scorers it would be wrong not to acknowledge the superb team performance, Richard Carroll immense in the pack, Darren Jacques who in my opinion is most unlucky not to have made the England Counties tour to North America, Josh Lord, Captain Marvel, leading by example from the whistle, Jess and Vinnicombe what a pair to have on the wings, they will both be relishing the prospect of that big pitch at Twickenham and the space it will have for them to show their paces.

Cornwall are back at Twickenham where they will face Northumberland in the Shield Final, the kick-off time for this match has been confirmed by the RFU as 10am on Sunday 1st June, tickets available either from the CRFU, the RFU or ticketmaster.

See Trelawny’s Army main page for travel and accomodation details for Twickenham.

Cornwall: P. Thirlby, M. Jess, R. Westren, S. Perry, L. Vinnicombe, M. Scrivener, M. Richards; D. Jacques, J. Salter, D. Clackworthy, B. Hilton, R. Carroll, J. Lord capt, A. Nicholls, S. Hocking.

Replacements all used; R. Pellow for M. Richards, J. Semmens for S. Perry, D. Semmens for J. Salter, P. Andrew for D. Clackworthy, J. Griffiths for B. Hilton, C. Fuca for A. Nicholls, M. Churcher for M. Scrivener.

Cornwall points Tries- Jess, Hocking, Thirlby (2), Hilton, Vinnicombe, Conversions- Scrivener (5), Penalty- Scrivener.

The return of Richard Carroll, three times voted Trelawny’s Army player of the year, is the major change in the side to face Eastern Counties on Saturday at Camborne in the final match in this season’s County Shield, for the winners the prize of promotion to the County Championship (Bill Beaumont Cup) next season.

Steve Perry comes into the centre to link up with clubmate Ryan Westren, Lewis Vinnicombe comes in at the expense of Jamie Semmens who drops to the bench. In the pack apart from Carroll in for John Griffiths who reverts to the bench, Danny Clackworthy and Adam Nicholls start with Paul Andrew and Chris Fuca also starting from the bench. Bryn Jenkins makes way for Carroll’s inclusion, whilst Sam Parsons, Marek Churcher and Steve Wood are not included this time.

Cornwall: P Thirlby (Redruth); M Jess, R Westren, S Perry (all Cornish All Blacks), L Vinnicombe (Redruth); M Scrivener (Cornish All Blacks), M Richards; D Jacques (both Redruth), J Slater, D Clackworthy; B Hilton, R Carroll (all Mounts Bay), J Lord (Cornish All Blacks, capt), A Nicholls (Mounts Bay), S Hocking (Cornish All Blacks).

Replacements: J Semmens, R Pellow, D Semmens, P Andrew, J Griffiths (all Mounts Bay), C Fuca (Redruth), AN Other.

Despite outscoring their hosts on the try front by four to three, Cornwall were beaten at Hertford on Saturday in their second County Shield match by 31-26. Meanwhile at Chinnor, Eastern Counties won their second match against Oxfordshire 18-14 and will travel to Camborne next Saturday knowing that a draw will be good enough for them to win the group, promotion and go to Twickenham!

It all started so well for Cornwall, prehaps too well as fly-half Mark Scrivener opened the scoring after 2 minutes with a try, which he converted. Hertfordshire replied with a try from scrum-half Ryan de la Harpe before Cornwall stretched their lead with winger Matt Jess scoring the first of two tries, which Scrivener was unable to convert. Cornwall then came under intense Hertfordshire pressure as their skipper and England Counties player No 8 Dave Archer scored two tries before half-time both converted by Richard Gregg for a 19-12 advantage.

Gregg kicked an early second half penalty, before Jess scored his second try with Scrivener adding the extras. Gregg kicked two further penalties as Cornwall were left to play catch up rugby. A late try by Ryan Westren converted by Paul Thirlby brought Cornwall back to within two points, a fourth Gregg penalty left Cornwall looking for a converted try to win the game and despite a long period of time added on they couldn’t score again.

So it’s all to play for at Camborne next Saturday, a Cornwall win will see them through thanks to their massive points difference from their first game, unless of course Hertfordshire also score a hatfull of points against Oxfordshire. Eastern Counties know that a draw will be good enough for them.

Matt Jess comes into the starting XV for Cornwall’s second County Shield match at Hertford tomorrow afternoon at 3pm in place of the injured Lewis Vinnicombe. Redruth ace Paul Thirlby comes in at full back with Mount’s Bay’s Jamie Semmens switching to the other wing in place of Nathan Pedley. On the bench Sam Parsons (Cornish Pirates), Danny Clackworthy (Mount’s Bay) and Steve Woods (Redruth) come into the squad in place of Ollie Faulkner, Ricky Pellow and Adam Nicholls. Josh Lord will once again captain the side.

Cornwall: P Thirlby (Redruth); J Semmens (Mounts Bay), R Westren (Cornish All Blacks), S Peters (Redruth), M Jess; M Scrivener (both Cornish All Blacks), M Richards; D Jacques (both Redruth), J Salter, P Andrew; J Griffiths, B Hilton (all Mounts Bay); J Lord (Cornish All Blacks, capt), C Fuca (Redruth), S Hocking (Cornish All Blacks)

Replacements: M Churcher (Mounts Bay), S Parsons (Cornish Pirates), J Bolt (Cornish All Blacks), D Semmens, D Clackworthy (both Mounts Bay), B Jenkins (Cornish All Blacks), S Woods (Redruth).

Hertfordshire: Kieron Davies (Ampthill); Ian Crompton (Stevenage Town), Jon Child (Welwyn), Ray Adde (Hemel Hempstead), Mark Evans (Old Albanian; Richard Gregg (Old Albanian), Ryan de la Harpe (Letchworth); Ryan Long (Tabard), Tavita Faamausili (Stevenage Town), Simon Carter (Newbury), Adam Amos (Stevenage Town), Robert Dumbleton (Harpenden), Alfie Church (Hertford), Ian Hardcastle (Westcombe Park), Dave Archer (Henley Hawks,Capt).

Replacements: Toby Prescott (Tring), Paul Welch (Hertford), Adam Gelman (Old Albanian), Matt Cross (Nuneaton), Jim Remfry (Caldy), Billy Johnson (Hertford), Gareth Davies (Tabard).

Cornwall couldn’t have hoped for a better start in their quest to regain their place in the County Championship proper next season following an emphatic 66-8 win, scoring no less than eleven tries over Oxfordshire in their opening County Shield match at Redruth on Saturday in front of a sizeable crowd.

Played in fine weather though with a stiff breeze blowing across the pitch, which proved troublesome to the goal kickers, Cornwall stamped their authority on the game from the kick-off, as No 8 Sam Hocking made the first of his telling carries. The Cornwall pack carried far too many “big guns” for the Oxfordshire eight who had a torrid afternoon as the rampant Cornish forwards dominated.

The opening score wasn’t long in arriving, though it came from an intercept by Redruth centre Simon Peters who sprinted along the eastern Bank touchline to score near the posts after only 2 mins, Mark Scrivener added the conversion. Oxfordshire briefly rallied to cut the deficit with a penalty from fly-half James Cathcart after 5 mins. Cornwall then took hold of the game to score a further four tries during the first half, Lewis Vinnicombe showed some blistering pace in helping himself to a couple of tries, with scrum-half Mark Richards and flanker Chris Fuca scoring the others in a Redruth try scoring spree during the opening 40 minutes. Mark Scrivener adding a couple more conversions and a penalty. Oxfordshire managed to pull a try back through winger Nick Sevier to leave the half-time score 34-8 to Cornwall.

Early in the second half Vinnicombe completed his try scoring hat-trick with a touchdown in the Piggy Lane corner of the ground. Cornwall continued to dominate though several promising moves broke down. As the game moved into the final quarter Cornwall brought on their bench players who were keen to make their mark on the game. Referee Mr. Higginson had no hesitation in awarding Cornwall a penalty try following sustained pressure on the Oxfordshire line, remarkably the conversion from in-front of the posts was missed as the ball appeared to tumble over as the luckless kicker Jamie Semmens was about to make contact with the ball. It mattered not. Cornwall’s eighth try was scored by skipper Josh Lord, who led his side by example throughout, a blistering run by the back row forward saw him run in from 35 meters cutting through the visitor’s defence, like a knife through butter. Leading at this stage by 49-8, Cornwall looked to finish with style with further tries from Jamie Semmens, replacement fly-half Marek Churcher and a spectacular score from replacement loose-head prop Jason Bolt in the Piggy Lane corner, Semmens converting the final score.

Speaking after the match county coaching co-ordinator Benji Thomas was delighted with such a dream start, he paid tribute to his players, all week he had instilled in them pride in playing for Cornwall and he felt that they had shown that today. He couldn’t have asked anymore from his players, especially pleased with the interplay between forwards and backs, felt that Jason Bolt’s final try really summed up the style he was looking for.

Proud skipper Josh Lord was equally very happy after the match, he felt that the squad had gelled very well despite the minimal preparation time they have had together. Josh paid tribute to his teammates and also the crowd who got right behind the team. Looking to take the next step next Saturday at Hertford, players have got Twickenham in their sights and are determined to get there. Heartened by the great support at Redruth today and hoping that as many as possible can get to Hertford next week to cheer the boys on.

CORNWALL 66 Pts

Tries- Peters, Vinnicombe (3), Richards, Fuca, Penalty, Lord, J. Semmens, Churcher, Bolt Conversions – Scrivener (3), J. Semmens. Penalty- Scrivener

OXFORDSHIRE 8 Pts

Try- Sevier. Penalty – Cathcart

Cornwall: J. Semmens, N. Pedley, R. Westren, S. Peters, L. Vinnicombe (O. Faulkner 47), M. Scrivener (M. Churcher 59), M. Richards (R. Pellow 57); D. Jacques (R. Bolt 57), J. Salter (D. Semmens 68), P. Andrew, J. Griffiths (B. Jenkins 68), B. Hilton, J. Lord (Capt), C. Fuca (A. Nicholls 57), S. Hocking.

Oxfordshire: H. Jones, P. Huxford (A. Pearson 54), M. Goode (K. Sewell H/T), R. Williams, N. Sevier, J. Cathcart, A, Cope; J. Winpenny, D. Needham (J. Eckheret 57), T. Whelan (A. Cawston 57), M. Hutchings (Capt), S. Black, P. Rowe, S. Bannister, E. Rixon.

Referee: Mr. N. Higginson (Devon R.R.S.)