Hakes Defeat League Leaders Truro
St Ives 35 v 13 Truro
Last Saturday at Alexandra Road St Ives welcomed Western Counties West league leaders Truro.
Following last weekend’s disappointing defeat at Burnham on Sea, Paul Thirlby shuffled his players slightly, bringing in Jake Clemson in the second row and welcoming back Sam Carter at scrum half following his latest tour of duty in the Navy.
St Ives began the game impressively. Martyn Lawrance, not for the only time, waited for the high ball from kick off and broke through several tackles before setting up the ruck. Truro appeared rather lax in the tackle. St Ives dominated possession and position. After only 2 minutes they broke through the Truro defence following an initial break from Paul Thirlby. He offloaded to Archie Mackay who crossed for the try. The conversion was missed, but the Hakes had the start they wanted with a 5-0 lead.
Truro struck back on the quarter hour mark when Darren Jacques crossed for a try from a ruck inside the St Ives 5 metre zone; Jake Champion kicked the conversion to put Truro ahead by 7 points to 5.
In the 17th minute from what looked like an accidental collision between two opposing players the referee brandished a yellow card to St Ives player Tom Nicholas when he interpreted the collision as dangerous. He had got underneath the Truro winger, but clearly not intentionally, clumsily at worst. St Ives had been playing with purpose and plenty of physicality. Could this be a turning point?
Down to 14 players it may have been expected that Truro would have turned up the heat on the St Ives defence, but, in fact, it was quite the opposite that occurred. From that point on it was St Ives that gained the upper hand. Almost at will it seemed they were able to break through the Truro defensive line. In the 21st minute prop Ben Jenkins made a good break, to the delight of the local support. He offloaded to Archie Mackay, who in turn released to full back Jordan Gott, who finished the move off with the try. Again the conversion was missed, but the Hakes were back in front by 10 points to 7.
The pattern of the game continued with St Ives breaking through the Truro defence on numerous occasions. In the 27th minute another break from number 8 Archie Mackay saw him release winger Lewis Thomas to score a try underneath the posts. This time the conversion was kicked to increase the St Ives lead to 17 points to 7.
Truro spent the rest of the first half without an answer to the St Ives attacks. Inevitably the Hakes broke through the visitors’ defence again, this time through centre Tom Nicholas, who had just returned to the pitch following his tem minutes in the sin bin. The try went un-converted, but the Hakes were now in control at 22 points to 7.
The last action of the first half saw Truro kick 3 points from a penalty from the boot of Jake Champion to end the half with the score St Ives 22, Truro 10. Spectators already were thinking of at least the two bonus points from the game: Truro surely would play better in the second half. St Ives are prone to fade later in the game.
The second half began with the visitors on the front foot looking determined to get back in the game. An ill directed kick allowed them to counter attack and gain a penalty on the 22. In what was the 44th minute they kicked another 3 points from the boot of Champion once, but that was to be their last score of the match.
Jordan Gott grabbed a penalty himself when a Truro player was found to be holding onto the ball on the ground in the 60th minute, to put the Hakes further ahead at 25 points to 13. St Ives, far from fading, were steadfast in their strong running and trustworthy handling. The energetic Sean Stevens found himself making a tremendous break out of defence. Jordan Gott’s kicking out of hand was excellent, regularly pushing Truro back towards their line. The game had virtually gone from the league leaders. Their support remained silent for much of the game. Local support could relax and enjoy the quality performance laid on by the Hakes.
With St Ives keeping up the pressure on a beleaguered Truro defence a desperate clearance from within their own 22, after an awkward bounce of the ball, was charged down by Martyn Lawrance, allowing centre Steve Kenward to cross for the Hakes 5th try of the match. Gott added the conversion to put the result beyond doubt at 32 points to 13.
The last points of the match were again from St Ives when Gott again converted a penalty chance to make the final score St Ives 35, Truro 13.
This result sees the Hakes climb to 7th in the league to underline their return to form following last week’s indifferent performance on the road. St Ives are back in action this coming Saturday in the Cornwall Cup, with a quarter final tie against Truro again. This time the match will take place in Truro. Kick-off is scheduled for 2:00pm and any travelling support for the Hakes would be greatly appreciated.
St Ives : James Bishop, Ben Taylor (Captain), Ben Jenkins, Jamie Prisk, Jamie Hoskin, Martyn Lawrance, Sean Stevens, Archie Mackay, Sam Carter, Paul Thirlby, Peter Mabbott, Steve Kenward, Tom Nicholas, Lewis Thomas, Jordan Gott.
Replacements: Jamie Prisk, Tom Chandler, Jonathan Wright (All Used)
