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BUTTERFINGERS!
Edwin Baker13 Jan 2014 - 01:51
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BILL GOFF APTLY SUMMED UP CULLOMPTON'S DAY
Bill Goff aptly summed up Cullompton’s day on Saturday evening with the caption to a photo on his facebook page, “the only thing he hasn’t dropped all day” which referred to centre Adam Pearce holding Florence the young daughter of prop Henry Weekes in the bar after the game. By the look on Florence’s face she must have overheard Coach Kevin Walker expressing the hope that Pearcie did not try to pass her to another player!
After a whirlwind Camborne start that would have earned a 0-7 lead against most teams Cullompton began to compete and constructed a number of promising moves throughout the game that always seemed to end in a dropped ball. Camborne seemed to lack imagination in open play but handled securely, not giving Cully a scrum until the half hour, and were the beneficiaries of two unforced defensive errors which gave them two more unconverted tries. Cully only got two penalties on the score board in reply for 6-17 and looked a little naive against streetwise Camborne who dived en masse on two home touchdowns obscuring the view of referee Ben Chadwick leaving him unable to award the tries and never hesitated to infringe in the red zone with lock John Griffiths in the opinion of some, only escaping a yellow card after diving in from the side over a ruck on his five because hooker Sam Bartle was already in the bin for a similar offence and a referee would be reluctant to reduce a side to thirteen.
For the first six minutes Camborne had Cully on the rack after the referee spotted a high tackle and flyhalf David Mankee’s penalty had found touch in the home twenty two. Cully was penalized in defence of the maul and had to defend two more lineouts and a five metre scrum before holding up the visitors in the bonfire corner. Camborne closed out their advantage from the resulting scrum with quick hands across the field for winger Alex Ducker to go in the corner and Mankee to convert from the touchline for 0-7.
Cully struck back almost immediately when lock Andy Issacs turned over the ball at a midfield ruck and broke to the visitor’s twenty two where Camborne were caught off side, leaving Pearce a relatively easy penalty to make the score 3-7. For the next ten minutes Cully gave as good as they got with number eight Josh Mammola initiating one promising move after a good take in the lineout with the ball going to centre Nathan Banks who broke to the visitors twenty two and on another occasion, hooker Jeremy Turner getting close the line but to the frustration of the supporters both moves fell victim to the epidemic of dropped balls.
Worse still on twenty minutes Camborne won a penalty near the halfway line which Mankee choose to kick for goal. The attempt fell short and was safely caught by a defender who had plenty of time for a clearance but gave a poor pass instead which was knocked on, giving Camborne a five metre scrum. The ball was moved off the back of the scrum to the fast moving Ducker who cut through on the blind side to touch down his second in the corner.
On the half hour Cullompton were awarded their first scrum of the match when the Camborne eight Dave Roberts ran into one of his own players. The Cully pack who competed well in this set piece despite the tendency of the much heavier visitors to push early, got the ball away well to Banks who concluded a good break with a grubb kick to touch in the visitors twenty two. Although Cully’s lineout form was patchy they managed to pinch the Camborne ball and after a couple of phases scrum half Tom Frankpitt looked to have got in between the posts but the try was not awarded as the pile of Cornish bodies hid the ball from view. The attack continued from the scrum award until on thirty five minutes Camborne hooker Sam Bartle saw yellow for not releasing a tackled player and Pearce took the points to make the score 6-12 at the break.
Throughout the second half the high number of knock ons lead to a high number of scrums which are of little concern to the team in the lead but frustrating to the side playing catchup as this set piece is notoriously time consuming and became more so just after the hour as Camborne were able to extend their lead. A good kick to touch by Mankee left Cullompton with a lineout well into their own twenty two. Tall opposition meant that Cully’s lineout was not a guarantee of possession but they took it in well on this occasion but then tried running it out of their twenty two getting turned over in the process. After a couple of phases Camborne had a ruck on the Cully twenty two and employed the successful formula of spinning the ball wide to the winger to score in the corner, this time Rob Floyd for an unconverted try for 6-17
A try would have been enough for a bonus point and Cully looked to have got one in the closing minutes. Full Back Tom Elliot joined the attacking line and carried the ball well into the twenty two before it was recycled to Mammola who went close but had to lay it back for Frankpitt to move it to winger Paul Baker. Baker had an empty goal at his mercy but was scragged from behind by the shirt collar and the ball went lose a couple of phases later but was poorly cleared. The Cully lineout took the ball in for a maul which marched over the line for Prop Henry Weekes to ground but once again a sea of white shirts engulfed the area and the referee lost sight of the ball and declared it held up.
Like so many balls in this game the match slipped through Cully’s fingers and supporters will be hoping that this is a lesson learnt for next week’s encounter with Bideford which will count toward both league and cup.
After a whirlwind Camborne start that would have earned a 0-7 lead against most teams Cullompton began to compete and constructed a number of promising moves throughout the game that always seemed to end in a dropped ball. Camborne seemed to lack imagination in open play but handled securely, not giving Cully a scrum until the half hour, and were the beneficiaries of two unforced defensive errors which gave them two more unconverted tries. Cully only got two penalties on the score board in reply for 6-17 and looked a little naive against streetwise Camborne who dived en masse on two home touchdowns obscuring the view of referee Ben Chadwick leaving him unable to award the tries and never hesitated to infringe in the red zone with lock John Griffiths in the opinion of some, only escaping a yellow card after diving in from the side over a ruck on his five because hooker Sam Bartle was already in the bin for a similar offence and a referee would be reluctant to reduce a side to thirteen.
For the first six minutes Camborne had Cully on the rack after the referee spotted a high tackle and flyhalf David Mankee’s penalty had found touch in the home twenty two. Cully was penalized in defence of the maul and had to defend two more lineouts and a five metre scrum before holding up the visitors in the bonfire corner. Camborne closed out their advantage from the resulting scrum with quick hands across the field for winger Alex Ducker to go in the corner and Mankee to convert from the touchline for 0-7.
Cully struck back almost immediately when lock Andy Issacs turned over the ball at a midfield ruck and broke to the visitor’s twenty two where Camborne were caught off side, leaving Pearce a relatively easy penalty to make the score 3-7. For the next ten minutes Cully gave as good as they got with number eight Josh Mammola initiating one promising move after a good take in the lineout with the ball going to centre Nathan Banks who broke to the visitors twenty two and on another occasion, hooker Jeremy Turner getting close the line but to the frustration of the supporters both moves fell victim to the epidemic of dropped balls.
Worse still on twenty minutes Camborne won a penalty near the halfway line which Mankee choose to kick for goal. The attempt fell short and was safely caught by a defender who had plenty of time for a clearance but gave a poor pass instead which was knocked on, giving Camborne a five metre scrum. The ball was moved off the back of the scrum to the fast moving Ducker who cut through on the blind side to touch down his second in the corner.
On the half hour Cullompton were awarded their first scrum of the match when the Camborne eight Dave Roberts ran into one of his own players. The Cully pack who competed well in this set piece despite the tendency of the much heavier visitors to push early, got the ball away well to Banks who concluded a good break with a grubb kick to touch in the visitors twenty two. Although Cully’s lineout form was patchy they managed to pinch the Camborne ball and after a couple of phases scrum half Tom Frankpitt looked to have got in between the posts but the try was not awarded as the pile of Cornish bodies hid the ball from view. The attack continued from the scrum award until on thirty five minutes Camborne hooker Sam Bartle saw yellow for not releasing a tackled player and Pearce took the points to make the score 6-12 at the break.
Throughout the second half the high number of knock ons lead to a high number of scrums which are of little concern to the team in the lead but frustrating to the side playing catchup as this set piece is notoriously time consuming and became more so just after the hour as Camborne were able to extend their lead. A good kick to touch by Mankee left Cullompton with a lineout well into their own twenty two. Tall opposition meant that Cully’s lineout was not a guarantee of possession but they took it in well on this occasion but then tried running it out of their twenty two getting turned over in the process. After a couple of phases Camborne had a ruck on the Cully twenty two and employed the successful formula of spinning the ball wide to the winger to score in the corner, this time Rob Floyd for an unconverted try for 6-17
A try would have been enough for a bonus point and Cully looked to have got one in the closing minutes. Full Back Tom Elliot joined the attacking line and carried the ball well into the twenty two before it was recycled to Mammola who went close but had to lay it back for Frankpitt to move it to winger Paul Baker. Baker had an empty goal at his mercy but was scragged from behind by the shirt collar and the ball went lose a couple of phases later but was poorly cleared. The Cully lineout took the ball in for a maul which marched over the line for Prop Henry Weekes to ground but once again a sea of white shirts engulfed the area and the referee lost sight of the ball and declared it held up.
Like so many balls in this game the match slipped through Cully’s fingers and supporters will be hoping that this is a lesson learnt for next week’s encounter with Bideford which will count toward both league and cup.
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