Last Saturday, with a break from league action, Liskeard welcomed Truro, who play their rugby in Western Counties (a league higher), for a round one match in the CRFU tribute Cornwall Knock-Out Cup; for this fixture The Lions decided to give debuts to Jack Wilton, Jack Parker and Lowan Egginton who were all on the bench.
The match didn’t start well for The Lions when they kick off as they deemed to be in front of the ball and from the ensuing scrum Truro attacked down the right hand side before switching left to score an unconverted try in the corner. On nine minutes Liskeard were awarded a penalty, just outside the Truro twenty-two and Nick Parker kicked this to narrow the deficit. Six minutes later Liskeard fell further behind when Truro secured ball at a scrum, inside the home twenty-two, and went over in the right hand corner for an unconverted try. In the nineteenth minute Liskeard fell further behind when a hopeful hack at a loose ball, out on the wing, by Truro put a player through and despite a superb covering tackle by flanker Adam Tyndale-Powell they scored another unconverted in the corner, a couple of minutes later Truro caught the home side cold when their scrum half picked the ball up at a ruck, midway between Liskeard’s ten and twenty-two metres lines and broke down the blindside to score in the corner and again because of the wind the conversion was missed. On thirty-five minutes The Lions found themselves with a line-out, deep in the visitors twenty-two, where a well worked catch and drive move was finished off with hooker Mike Porter scoring an unconverted try. The closing move of the half came about when Truro obtained a somewhat dubious turnover of Liskeard ball, with a possible side entry at a ruck on the halfway line, to release their well drilled backs to score an unconverted try in the corner to take the score to 25-8 at the whistle. It was a half where Liskeard had started slowly but gradually settled down and it was only Truro’s well drilled backs making the difference.
Within ten minutes of the restart the scoreboard started moving again when Truro scored a converted try following some very good handling by their backs. Liskeard then hit back from a catch and drive move off a line-out in the visitors twenty-two; this time it was finished off by scrumhalf James Noel-Johnson. In the sixty-fifth minute Liskeard conceded another try with the conversion attempt this time hitting the upright and bounced out to make it 37-13. In the next ten minutes Truro scored a further three tries, one of which was converted. The last five minutes of normal time were just as hectic and it started with Lions fly-half Oliver Aggiss intercepting a Truro pass, on his own ten metre line to race sixty metes to touch down with Parker adding the extras. The final play of the game went to Truro and they scored another unconverted try to make the final score 59-20. Liskeard had been well beaten by a far better side on the day but heads didn’t drop in the slightest and in certain phases of play The Lions had held their own. This coming Saturday sees a return to league action with the long trip to high-flying Honiton with a 1500 kick off.