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Great result at Matson

Great result at Matson

Bill Goff22 Sep 2014 - 20:33
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Matson 24 Cullompton 42

Both teams were looking for their first wins of the season and Cully gave debuts to Matt Handford, TJ Hyams and Josh Barrett and welcomed back skipper Sam Harris for his first game of the season. The opening fifteen minutes saw Cully fall prey to their well known problems however with lineout ball going astray and weak midfield tackling. The young Matson team had no such problems and scored first on five minutes with a well worked catch and drive from a five metre lineout. The conversion was kicked and Cully were on the back foot. The older heads in the Cully pack began to bring some order to the play and good ground was gained by employing the rolling maul. The home side infringed and Ross Toms opened the Cully scoring with a penalty. Two more penalties quickly followed and with Toms landing one of them Cully were back in the game. The ball was kept tight by the visiting forwards and Matson continued to be penalised for infringements in the loose play. Toms putting Cully into the lead on the half hour with another successful kick. The Matson outside half responded almost immediately however to give the home side a 10-9 advantage at half time. The home flanker was sin binned just before the whistle but Cully were unable to capitalise on his absence. The turning point in the game came five minutes into the second half when the home side missed two penalties which would have secured a comfortable lead and from their next attack lost the ball forward. Toms was on to it immediately and made a break upfield. He found Barreett in support and he ran in the try from the halfway line. Toms adding the conversion for 10-16. Cully nearly added a second but Alex Ford was denied by the ref after a kick and chase to in goal. Back came Matson with another try and conversion for a one point lead. Cully were beginning to get the upper hand up front and Harris and Rob Lennox were combining well as Cully played some open handling rugby for the first time in the match. The two combined to set up Barrett for his second which Toms converted with a quarter hour left. Tom Harrold made a typical barrelling run into the defence and after two more phases Chris Grant dived over for a try. The conversion attempt failed but there was no stopping Cully now. Finn Wright made a break down the wing to feed Toms in support who touched down and converted his own try. The home side replied with a converted try but there was just time for Lennox to set up Sam Harris for the final try with a break down the blindside touchline. Toms added the extras for a 24-42 win. In the second half Cully played some constructive open rugby .Hopefully this augurs well for this Saturdays encounter with Camborne at Stafford Park.
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