Roseland battle to victory
On Saturday the day started clear and glorious, but by 2pm the weather was foul. Wind and rain lashed across the pitch at Philleigh. In a late change of location on Friday evening the “friendly” between Roseland and St Austell 2nds, “The Sinners”, was re-located from Tregorrick Park to Philleigh. Roseland had lost an earlier encounter against The Sinners earlier in the season and we’re looking for revenge so this narrow victory was extraordinarily sweet.
Roseland entered the contest with a number of players missing due to injury or various other commitments due to this originally being a “free” weekend so they done well to put out a 15 and a few replacements. However every single Roseland player stepped up and put in a monster shift against a decent “Sinners” outfit.
Kicking off and playing down the slope Roseland didn’t have the best start as the kick off went out on the full. This was to be Roselands only real poor piece of luck for the game.
Both sides played good rugby given the conditions and given the conditions, and late location change,a decent sized crowd also turned up.
For large parts of the first half the game was spent mostly in the middle of the park with both sides having periods of pressure in the oppositions 22, it was Roseland that made the better use of said time. They defended valiantly and attacked with gusto. From one such attack Roseland forced St Austell into a penalty that was converted by fly half Davo Williams. Later in the half Roseland gained another penalty that they opted to kick, however with the distance too great, full back Matt Eddy missed. The half ended with Roseland 3-0 up.
The second half continued in much the same fashion as the first, with both teams going at each other hammer and tong. St Austell enjoyed a period of sustained pressure on the Roseland line but the Roseland defence held firm and kept the visitors at bay with a phenomenal effort.
Roseland worked their way down field and were unlucky not to score a try when capitalising on a “Sinners” mistake when they knocked on with the line begging. Roseland then proceeded to enjoy a sustained period of pressure and from one particular penalty, Davo Williams slotted another kick to bring the score to 6-0.
The remainder of the half was a Battle Royale. St Austell were determined to score a try and bring back their hopes of victory and Roseland were determined to prevent that happening by tackling anything in red. With the pitch cutting up and the going heavy underfoot both sides made use of their replacements. Martin Kneebone moved from loose head to hooker, Rhys Bull made way for Jake Flamank at loose head and Joe Davidson replaced Ant Thomas in the boiler room of the pack.
The problem Roseland had occurred when fly half Davo had to leave the field injured and the reshuffling took place. Matt Eddy filled in at 10, wing Matt Willsher shifted to full back, Joe Davidson moved from second row to wing and Ant Thomas came back into the second row. This make shift Roseland side played out the final 10 minutes in the same fashion as the first 70, full of guts and determination.
With the last play called St Austell had possession and battered at the Roseland defence. Roseland held firm and won turn over ball. With Day stuck at the bottom of the ruck second row “Gypsy” Joe Warren took it upon himself to kick the ball out, however his kick went straight up in the air and St Austell regained possession. The battle to win the ball back started again and this time once recovered Roseland got the ball to Eddy who rather than kick to the nearest touchline kicked to the furthest touchline and made it with a mere yard to spare. The whistle went and the Roseland players sank to their knees in exhaustion before springing up with the realisation that they had pulled off an excellent victory against a strong side. They have set the bar for future performances and laid the foundations for any future promotions safe in the knowledge that they can play well and win against quality opposition.
Roseland entertain Lankelly Fowey on Saturday in the Tribute Cup, 2:30 kick off, this coincides with Roselands annual Sponsors Day so a strong crowd is expected.
25/01/2016 by