On a wet and windy November Saturday afternoon Roseland entertained Camelford at Philliegh.
Saturday was not only a league fixture but also Roseland’s annual Sponsors Day so despite the conditions their was a reasonable crowd on the sidelines.
Playing up the slope in the first half Rosleand kicked off and immediately put themselves under pressure by not kicking the required 10 metres.
After some early to and fro between the sides Roseland gained good field position. A barnstorming run from second row Ed “Jellybean” Llewylen set up Roseland just short of “Fords” line. With a disjointed defence quickly back peddling the ball was recycled and fly half Dave “Davo” Williams, getting a rare start, waltzed between two defenders to cross and score the try, he then converted his own score for a 7-0 lead.
Roseland were quick to get themselves back into Camelford territory and after some good link up between forwards and backs, and an element of good fortune with handling, centre Mike “Legs” Rushbridge was hauled up just short of the line and managed to offload to winger Josh Lobb who unfortunately knocked on with the line begging. However from the resultant scrum Roseland managed to win one against the head and shunted their way over the line and skipper and Number 8 Andrew “Starky” Stark just beat the Camelford scrum half to touching down. Davo converted and Roseland were 14-0 up in as many minutes.
For the next 20 minutes the game struggled to flow with both teams struggling in the wet conditions and the referee trying to let things flow as much as possible to avoid the inevitable “scrumfest” that was possible.
Both teams made breaks and created half chances only for it to break down at the vital moment. Roseland did eventually start to click and after building pressure won several penalties to work their way back down field and after a kick to the corner had a lineout 5 metres out and despite an overthrow openside flanker Will Rundle cleaned up and dived over the line for a simple score.
Davo continued his good form with the boot to convert.
This was the last meaningful play of the half and the teams went in at half time 21-0 up.
At half time Roseland swapped fly half Davo for this season’s regular stand off Matt Eddy as their only change.
Roseland were hoping to push on and capitalise on playing down the slope and having a 21 point cushion however Camelford came out the blocks firing and Roseland struggled to gain any real momentum.
Both sides struggled in the wet, windy and boggy conditions. Handling started to become a problem and both teams struggled with the heavy underfoot conditions.
Roseland also brought on replacements and it took time for them to settle into the game.
Roseland did cross the try line twice during the second period. Mike Rushbridge got held up over the line and Matt Willsher just knocked on chasing through on a kick ahead.
With 10 minutes of the game left Roseland finally made the break through. After a solid scrum the ball went out to the backs and centre Will “Mayer” May bundled his way over the line under the sticks. Eddy converted to bring the score to 28-0.
The final 10 minutes then became a bit frenetic. Camelford were desperate to register a well deserved score and Roseland, not only keen to prevent them scoring, but also keen to grab another score for themselves.
However neither side were able to score anymore points and the game ended 28-0 to Roseland.
Camelford battled hard for the full 80 minutes and done themselves proud.
Roseland did enough to register the 5 point victory and regain a bit of confidence before playing Veor next week after disappointing defeats to Camborne School of Mines and Perranporth.