Hakes Outplayed

St Austell 29 v 3 St Ives

The St Ives 1st team squad travelled to Tregorrick Park St Austell last weekend looking for their 3rd straight win of the season. They travelled without joint head coach Rob Elloway, Sean Stevens, Sam Carter and Tom Chandler. In to the side came Joel Stevens at hooker, Martyn Lawrance returned at 8, with Ben Wheeler and Josh Palmer coming on to the bench.

The game started with both sides cautiously probing each other’s defence. It was the home side who scored the first points of the afternoon through the boot of Cav Boyer when the Hakes were found offside in the 4th minute. Three minutes later Rhys Brownfield levelled the match with another penalty after 7 minutes.

Eleven minutes in and it was St Austell who broke through the St Ives defensive line first, with a try from George Tregilgas. Boyer added the extras, 10-3 to St Austell.

The try seemed to settle the home side as they moved to a brand of high energy rugby that St Ives struggled to deal with all afternoon. Just after the quarter hour mark Boyer added another penalty to increase the home side’s advantage to 10 points at 13-3.

The Hakes struggled to get a foothold in the game for the remainder of the half, despite the home side being reduced to 14 men in the 29th minute when Adam Kellow was shown yellow. A couple of lines out in St Austell’s 22 failed to materialise into anything of substance. The half was brought to a close with no change in the score at 13 points to 3.

If St Ives were to get anything from the game in the second half then they had to eliminate the handling errors and match the home side’s energy that was so effective in the first period. However, it soon became clear that St Austell were in no mood to relinquish their grip on the match and Boyer added two penalties in the 43rd minute and 60th minute respectively stretching their advantage to 19 points to 3.

An intercepted pass in their own 22 sealed the Hakes’ fate in the 67th minute, when George Knowles gratefully strolled between the posts to score with Boyer converting to make the score 26-3.

With the Hakes now pinned back in their own half for long periods, desperate defensive measures were called for. Second row John Lamsin saw yellow in the 70th minute for an offence at a maul to make things even more difficult for the visitors.

Handling errors and a lack of imagination in attack kept St Ives from making any forward progress and despite valiant defensive efforts they were unable to prevent St Austell pressing home numerous attacks. St Austell scored the final points of the afternoon in the 78th minute with another penalty from Boyer to make the final score at the whistle St Austell 29, St Ives 3.

This result will bring the Hakes back down to earth following an encouraging start to the season. This coming Saturday there is no game so the Hakes will return to league action on September 30th when they travel to Paignton. KO is scheduled for 3:00pm, any travelling support would be very welcome.

St Ives: Ben Taylor, Joel Stevens, Leigh Hocking, John Lamsin, Jamie Prisk, Peter Mabbott, Harry Parton, Martyn Lawrance, Treve Polglase, Paul Thirlby, Liam Jolly, Steve Kenward, Tom Nicholas, Joe Parma, Rhys Brownfield.

Replacements: Ben Wheeler, Ben Jenkins, Josh Palmer (All Used).