Hakes Sting Hornets Nest

Newquay Hornets 14 v 59 St Ives

Last Saturday St Ives Head Coach Paul Thirlby took his side to Newquay for their first round Cornwall Cup match against Newquay Hornets. Prior to kick off a minutes silence was respectfully observed by both sides for a former St Ives player and stalwart of the club William Bryant Barber who passed away last week. The rugby club extends their hearfelt condolences to the family.

The game began with Newquay settling into their rhythm first, the St Ives players did not settle well initially despite scoring the first points of the game when debutant Cameron Bone crossed for a try in the 13th minute, the wide conversion was missed but the Hakes had an early lead. Despite going behind the home side continued to give a good account of themselves and only 2 minutes later replied with a try of their own following a wayward St Ives pass in the midfield that was collected by Newquay’s Lee Ambridge who scored the breakaway try under the St Ives posts which was duly converted by Ed Stigle to give the home side a deserved lead by 7 points to 5.

The St Ives players continued to struggle to find their form and their play was disjointed but despite this they showed that they were still capable of creating scoring opportunities, in the 18th minute this was underlined when flanker Louis Stevens crossed for a try, this time the conversion was converted by Grant Thirlby to see the Hakes retake the lead by 12 points 5.

Finding themselves behind again did not deter the home side and they continued to give the Hakes problems as they pressed home their attack through their back line, they were rewarded again for their positive play in the 24th minute when Pierre Goud crossed for a try which was again converted by Stigle to put the Hornets ahead in the match again by 14 points to 12. Finding themselves behind for the second time in the match the St Ives players picked up their game and finished the first half on top following two tries, the first from centre Tom Nicholas in the 27th minute and the second from pacey winger Nathan Allen who returned from injury for this match when he outpaced the home defence to score in the 34th minute. Both tries were converted by Thirlby to give the Hakes a half time lead of 26 points to 14.

The second half began with Newquay continuing to pose problems for the mis-firing St Ives side, the first score of the second period was all important to the eventual outcome of the game as the stalemate in the half was maintained for 19 minutes. Once the Hakes made a breakthrough in the 59th minute when Grant Thirlby scored a fine try underneath the posts which he converted himself they never looked back, only two minutes later full back Lewis Thomas crossed for an un-converted try out wide to make the score 38 points to 14 in St Ives favour.

In the 66th minute both sides found themselves reduced to 14 men when St Ives lost lock Tom Chandler and Newquay lost a player to yellow cards for a fracas at a breakdown. Despite going a man down it was the Hakes who scored next, from an attacking lineout in the Newquay 22’ they formed their trademark maul and trundled towards the line with Captain Ben Taylor at the rear with ball in hand, he made a break for the line but was stopped just short allowing number 8 Martyn Lawrance to pick up the ball and drive over the line to score the try, Thirlby again converted to put the result beyond doubt at 45 points to 14.

St Ives were reduced to 13 men temporarily when second row Ben Jenkins was shown yellow for handling the ball on the floor in the 72nd minute leaving the Hakes without a second row forward on the pitch until Chandler returned 4 minutes later. When they were back at 14 men on the pitch the ball was worked wide once again to full back Lewis Thomas who crossed in the corner for his second try of the match in the 77th minute, the conversion from Thirlby was again successful to stretch the Hakes lead to 52 points to 14.

Hat trick for Lewis

As the end of the match approached it was the Hakes who had the final say with the last points of the match, once again it was full back Lewis Thomas who completed his hat-trick with another try. With the last kick of the match Thirlby kicked the conversion to finalise the score line at 59 points to 14 to St Ives.

The Hakes progress to the Quarter Final of this season's Cornwall Cup where they have been drawn away to local rivals Hayle in a tie to be played on Saturday 17th October with kick off scheduled for 2:30pm in Hayle.

Better attitude and performance required

Following the game St Ives Director of Rugby Joff Rowe commented; ‘The Cornwall Cup competition is a fantastic opportunity to allow the players to play under different pressures and express themselves in a different way. This first round tie was a difficult match for St Ives against an under strength Newquay side. We have managed to build some momentum in the early stages of the season, but getting prepared for a game like this is sometimes tricky and can, if not managed correctly by the players themselves, bring some complacency into the team. That said all credit to Newquay who ran everything and played in our faces for most of the afternoon. We are delighted to progress but I do expect a better performance and perhaps slightly better attitude from the squad as a whole when we take on our next opponents.’

St Ives are back in action this coming Saturday in the Tribute Cornwall & Devon League with an away game at Falmouth, kick off is scheduled for 3:00pm any travelling support would be very welcome.

St Ives : Tony Stevens, Ben Wheeler, Jess Tompsett, Jamie Prisk, Tom Chandler, Louis Stevens, Cameron Bone, Martyn Lawrance, Jason Jackson, Sam Carter, Nathan Allen, Grant Thirlby, Tom Nicholas, Ryan Bishop, Lewis Thomas.

Replacements: Ben Taylor, Ben Jenkins, Aaron Rowe, Sam Bristow. (All Used)