Possession not enough to deliver the win

Match report by Jack "The Scoop" Rowe

St Austell travelled to Thornbury without several key players, but their replacements were a credit to the club and themselves and like the rest of the team gave a hundred percent commitment in a keenly fought game.

Saints had the lion’s share of possession and territory, however they found the Thornbury defence on inspired form and they just lacked the guile to break them down, while their own tackling tended to be too high thus allowing the home team to keep their legs pumping and to pass the gain line too often.

The visitors started the match on the front foot and for the first 10 minutes pounded away at the home team line, but solid defence kept them at bay. In contrast Thornbury finally managed to get into the Saints half for the first time and from a scrum on the 22, centre Dai Matthews went through a gap to score wide out and put them 5-0 up.

Back came St Austell with their scrum and lineout working well and this time their assault on the Thornbury line got what it deserved, after good carries by Adam Kellow, Miles Davey and Jack Grigg got Saints into the 22 and the ref playing advantage for a Saints penalty, scrum half Andy Ashwin collected the ball from the back of a ruck and took a couple of steps towards the halfway line before executing a Barbarians style kick over his head to wrong foot the defence and allow centre Alex Welland to catch and dot down a classic try, with Dan Pearce converting Saints took the lead 7-5 after 20 minutes.

The Thornbury backs always made ground when they had the ball and Saints played into their hands with kicks that didn’t find touch and the home team were more than willing to run the ball back, and with half time looming they forced a scrum on the St Austell 22. The ball was spread wide allowing full back Matt Belbin to enter the line and score in the corner, and when the same player slotted over a penalty with the last kick of the half minutes later it was 13-7 at the midway point with all to play for.
Thornbury won the game in the third quarter, when for the only time in the match they had a spell of pressure, first after a series of five yard scrums (an area where Saints held their own) the ref went under the posts when deeming the scrum was wheeled and with the easy conversion put over by Belbin, Saints were 20-7 down. On the hour Thornbury scored again when a Saints attack was knocked on deep in Thornbury territory. The home team ran the ball into the Saints half and when awarded a penalty kicked to the corner and after Saints repulsed the initial drive replacement Tom Boaden crashed over under the posts to put the score 27-7 to the home side with 20 minutes to go.

To their credit St Austell upped their game and for the remaining 20 minutes hardly left the Thornbury 22, with their forwards picking and driving around the fringes and sometimes going 14 or 15 phases forcing Thornbury to commit players to stem the momentum and first the ball was shipped inside to centre Callum Wilson who forced his way over near the touchline leaving a difficult conversion, but Dan Pearce made it look effortless with a kick that went soaring between the posts, to leave Saints 27-14 down. With time running out St Austell again pounded the Thornbury line in search of a losing bonus and after pick and drives were stopped just short, Saints spread the ball wide for replacement Cavan Boyer to score in the corner and with the referee indicating time was up it was left to Pearce to curl in another brilliant conversion with the last kick of the match, to give Saints a losing bonus point which was the least they deserved in what was probably their best away display of the season. If play had continues for another 10 minutes who knows what the outcome might have been?

Next Saturday Saints are at home to Cullompton in a rearranged fixture with a 2.30 kick-off. Entrance to the game is FREE so a perfect opportunity to sample the Tregorrick atmosphere and experience!

Match Stats:

St Austell: Rowe; Davey (Captain); Martin (Mark); Jeffs; Kellow; Grigg; Barbery; Winterbottom; Ashwin; Pearce; Ewudzi; Welland; Wilson; Chenoweth; Johns
Replacements: Gallacher; Boyer; Knight

St Austell:
Tries – Alex Welland, Callum Wilson, Cavan Boyer
Cons – Dan Pearce (3)
Pens –
Drop Goal –

Thornbury:
Tries – Matthews, Belbin, Boaden, Penalty Try
Cons – Belbin
Pens – Belbin
Drop Goal –

Yellow Cards:
St Austell: None
Thornbury: None

Red Cards:
St Austell: None
Thornbury: None

Referee: Mr Ian Hillier (Bristol RRS)

Saints’ Man of the Match: Rob Jeffs Made a welcome return to the Saints pack after injury and delivered a bristling performance. Dominant in the lineout and a highly effective ball carrier that kept the Saints on the front foot for much of the game.