Roseland beat Students
On a dry but blustery afternoon on Saturday Roseland had the joy of another home fixture albeit against Camborne School of Mines (CSM). However Roseland, despite losing last week, were in confident mood after an impressive performance against Newquay.
Although in the pre-Christmas fixture between these two at Penryn, CSM came out on top so once again Roseland were looking for a first victory over CSM for a number of seasons.
Roseland kicked off the game playing up the slope and against the moderate breeze. CSM quickly looked the get width on the game but stout Roseland defence and some poor handling kept the early exchanges even as Roseland responded with some heavy hitting forwards and the occasional use of the quick men.
CSM won a penalty that was kicked deep into the corner and were hoping to capitalise but stern Roseland defence kept them at bay and after a excellent turnover cleared their lines.
Thanks to Nick Sylvester for this great line out shot
Following a spilt ball in midfield Roseland regathered and attacked down the left flank and with several good interchanging passes made excellent ground up to the CSM 22.
Neither side was prepared to give an inch with the Roseland forwards carrying strongly and the CSM backs looking to get width on the game.
Roseland won a kickable penalty mid-way into the half but opted for the lineout instead and after several battering attacks on the try line eventually returning No8 Nathan Chapman muscled his way over the line for the opening score. Fly half Davo Williams failed with the difficult conversion.
Bouyed by the try Roseland went back at CSM and stuck to their game plan well. Carrying hard and kicking intelligently, especially against the stiff breeze. CSM to their credit defended well and looked dangerous when attacking but Roseland defended equally well. Both teams kept falling foul of the referee and both at times struggled to adapt to this refs interpretations of the laws.
Roseland won another penalty in the CSM 22 but this time opted for the posts and were rewarded with 3 points as Davo Williams converted and Roseland led 10-0 with about 5 minutes of the half remaining.
However those remaining 5 minutes didn’t go to plan and Roseland failed to deal with the kick off and CSM pounced. With the scrums generally being fairly equal CSM started to exert some pressure using both the slope and the muddy conditions underfoot to get the initial shove and keep the Roseland 8 retreating. CSM eventually worked their way to within 5m of the Roseland line and won a scrum. From the resulting scrum Roseland creaked and CSM were hoping to score but the ball spilled lose and after a scramble on the floor by both sides the referee eventually awarded CSM the penalty and harshly sent Nathan Chapman to the sin bin when probably he wasn’t at fault.
CSM opted to scrum the resultant penalty and this time scored the try via their scrum half. The try was converted and the half time whistle blew with the score 8-7.
Down to 14 men for the first 8-10 minutes of the second half Roseland knew that they needed to keep on top of CSM.
Much like the first half both sides gave no quarter and the game was played very much between the 22s. Neither some could really gain the upper hand but Roseland kept pinning CSM back with kicks into the corners and with the breeze strengthening CSM struggled to clear their lines.
Roseland won a kickable penalty and opted for the posts but with the heavy conditions underfoot Davo Williams missed.
Once Roseland were back up to a full 15 they scored a well deserved try. CSM were on the break and looking to score themselves but after a solid tackle and a spilt ball, Roseland regathered and broke away, and once the ball got spun along the line, Chapman made ground before offloading to Will “Figgy” Martin who had the try line begging but selflessly drew the last man before passing to replacement flanker Joe “Gypsy” Warren who scooted over in the right hand corner. Davo Williams defied the underfoot conditions and slotted an excellent touchline conversion.
With the score now 15-7 both sides knew the next score was vital. If CSM scored they were right back into the contest, if Roseland scored it gave them the extra breathing space.
Roseland determined not to loose the momentum kicked intelligently and kept CSM turning and forcing them to attack from deep.
With about 5 minutes left CSM again made a decent break but again lost possession of the ball and once regathered, “Gyspy” Warren found himself in possession of the ball and an open field in front of him and made a 50m dash for the line, however the covering defence got back and hauled him down just 5m short of the line. The CSM defence though conceded a penalty in front of the posts and Williams converted the simple kick to bring the score to 18-7. This was the last meaningful act of the game and the match finished just a few minutes later with the score 18-7 and Roseland having earnt a hard fought victory and full of confidence for next weeks away fixture to Helston.