13th February 2010 - Tribute Western Counties West:
North Petherton 8 - 13 Camborne

Report by Lloyd Williams

With local farmers Harold Bolt and Sons sponsoring the match, it meant for a large crowd to get behind Pethy as they took on top of the table Camborne. This was Camborne’s first visit to Pethy.

Camborne came to Pethy with an impressive league record, losing only once so far this season. But Pethy took little notice of this as they were the first on the score sheet on 5mins with a brilliant run of play. Pethy got the’r hands on the ball soon after the kick off and went on the attack. Constant fast ball meant both backs and forwards could run with ball in hand. After a great platform from the forwards all the backs got involved in an attack inside the visitors 22, after mini breaks from centres Hallaran and Carter, Chris Burge fed Craig Goodwin who dived over in the corner. Lloyd Williams was unable to convert.

Pethy had a couple more golden changes to score early on, the first when Goodwin, Burge and Carter linked up just inside the visitors half, captain Lloyd Williams was released just inside the 22, heading towards the line, just as he seemed to put the supporting Matt Brown into score, the visitors captain and number 8, managed to get an out reached hand in the way to steal the pass and the opportunity was over.

The second was when Lloyd Williams went on a mazy run back through the forwards and into the open, eventually releasing James Cater, who seemed to put Chris Burge in for the try, but the pass was called forward, which caused an uproar in the crowd.

The visitors then got territory and possession. A chip through by the scrum half took a wicked bounce away from Williams at fullback, however it was well covered eventually. It wasn’t long before the visitors were again deep in the Pethy 22 with a scrum and eventually they crashed over and it was well converted.

The visitors played a smart game, with the 10 releasing his backline when they had quick ball, if not he kicked constantly into the corners. Their kicking game was also backed up by their scrum half with many telling box kicks. The back 3 of Goodwin, Burge and Williams did well, but were only allowed to kick back as the visitors chased their kicks well. This phase of the game when on for sometime. Pethy also found themselves on the wrong side of the Ref’s whistle on too many occasions, and were really struggling to mount any sort of attack in the visitors half.

Before the half was out the visitors extended their led with a long range penalty.

Half Time: 5 – 10

About 5mins into the second half Pethy received their very first penalty which Lloyd Williams was able to kick long down field to gain territory. The second half then continued as the first, penalties and too many unforced errors by Pethy were costing them field position, which meant it was hard to launch into any real scoring chances. The visitors scored another penalty, 5 – 13. To which Pethy responded with they’re one and only penalty in a kickable position, which stand in kicker Sam Williams slotted, 8 – 13.

Pethy withstood attack after attack, but in the last 5 mins of the game Pethy had a real chance to steal the victory. They spent the last 5 mins of the match camped on the visitors line, however a couple of wrong options were made and the opportunity was missed.

Pethy defended with their hearts on their sleeves, but the errors and penalties cost them the game. Their opponents however, very rarely made any unforced errors, hardly lost the ball in the contact and gave away very few penalties, which is why they continue to win games.

If Pethy had continued at the pace they started the game, apart from being completely blown out by half time they would of scored more tries and kept the ball away from the visitors. Unfortunately momentum was lost about 20 mins in, and the speedy and powerful Camborne backs were given too much possession. Only the grit and determination of the Pethy defence kept them out.

In the backs Craig Goodwin went on some powerful runs, centres Hallaran and Carter were solid in defence and often opened up the mid-field creating space for support runners. The forwards battled hard, James Cox was a dominate force in the lineout, winning quality ball for Pethy and causing the visitors many issues.

Next week a massive trip to Devonport Services.

Team:

1. Simon Ranson (Kyle Prescott – 70mins)
2. Sam Williams
3. Matt Angel
4. James Cox
5. James Lees
6. Simon Gingell (Adam Modrzynski – 45mins)
7. Ben Tarr
8. Matt Brown
9. Matt Ranson
10. Tom Williams
11. Craig Goodwin (Jamie Adams – 70mins)
12. Dave Hallaran
13. James Carter
14. Chris Burge
15. Lloyd Williams (CAPT)