Tribute South West 1 – West
Camborne 33 – North Petherton 0
Saturday 23rd January 2016
Report By Simon Freeman
Petherton for the second week running played a team high on confidence and riding hgh at the top of the table. Pethy battled but lacked the composure to take opportunities that were on offer. Camborne demonstrated why they are clear at the top with a comprehensive performance in attack and defence.
Captains comments (Damian Griffin)
Travelling to Cornwall with a scratch side was always going to be tough!! The expectations were very low but the team that travelled down had no pressure on them and all I wanted from the lads was to enjoy it and give it 100% and that’s exactly what we did ! Although the final score suggests that we got a hiding we didn’t give any of those points away easily ! I have never been so proud to play with a side that put in so much effort and heart when everything was against us ! With a small inexperienced pack they definitely held their own against the huge Camborne pack and had them rattled right from the start to everyone’s surprise, and our backs were solid not letting anyone through ! If this attitude was with us from the start of the season we wouldn’t be in the sticky situation we are now but we need to build from this then we will definitely come away with results in the next few games ahead ! Like I’ve said before the result doesn’t matter at the end of the day if everyone gave it their all, enjoyed every second and has no regrets then it makes it all worth while.
The home side kicked off playing towards the score board end with the elements at their back and wasted no time in taking the lead through a well worked touchdown. With conditions underfoot extremely difficult the visiting pack couldn’t hold a powerful Camborne catch and drive from a lineout where the back row forward grabbed the opening score. The tricky conversion was pushed just wide of the post so Town led 5-0 inside the first 5 minutes.
A combination of resolute Pethy defending and a number of handling errfors from ‘Town prevented the home side increasing their lead until the 23rd minute. A Cherry & Whites scrum inside the visitors 22 was driven over the line where it was once again Goldsworthy who got the try. The Fly half knocked over the tricky conversion taking the score to 12 – 0.
To the visitors credit they continued to work hard to deny Camborne and held out until the 39th minute when a lineout in front of the West Bank catch and drive proved unstoppable as a hard working prop picked up a deserved try. Once again a difficult conversion was knocked over and Camborne led 19 – 0 at the break.
The second half began with Camborne forced onto the back foot as Pethy took advantage of the conditions. They hammered at the Cherry & Whites line for 10 minutes until frustration led to a yellow card for the visiting centre for preventing a quick penalty.
This gave Camborne some breathing space and they worked their way up field in what was rapidly becoming a war of attrition with the heavy pitch taking it’s toll.
As the game entered the final quarter the home side had weathered the storm and were making inroads into the Pethy 22 with some superb runs from numerous players.
From one such break on 60 minutes the ball was moved out wide where a centre cut inside to slice through a tiring Pethy defence and score under the posts to seal a bonus point victory for the league leaders.
Camborne’s fifth and final score came with 7 minutes to go when captain Dave Roberts crowned a excellent performance as he broke away from the base of a scrum close in to go over for a converted score to complete the scoring.
