Playing up the slope for the first half, Roseland were in determined mood, after a poor defeat last week, and soon took control after some evenly contested early play. After 11 minutes, Roseland took a deserved lead when Tom Day kicked a simple penalty after several phases and sustained pressure. The home team continued to control possession and territory and, after 25 minutes, Nathan Chapman picked up from a retreating Roseland scrum and made good yardage towards the Lankelly 22 before slipping the ball to Tom Day who somehow darted through the Lankelly to score under the posts and convert. Although Lankelly were starting to get more of a foothold in the game, Roseland extended their lead to 15-0 on 34 minutes when, following a held-up 5 metre scrum, Joe Hitchings (making his full debut at fly-half) fed Mike Berridge to score. Not to be denied, Lankelly got themselves on the scoreboard from a blind side tap penalty immediately before the break to make the half-time score 15-5.Clearly buoyed by a late first half score, Lankelly started the stronger after the break with their forward pack beginning a spell of pressure, particularly at the set scrum.After 45 minutes, having pushed Roseland off their own scrum ball, the visitors forced their way over close to the posts. So, after such a strong first half, Roseland were just 15-12 in front with over half an hour left to play. Both sides had their moments in the period that followed when line-outs were evenly contested while Lankelly still held the edge at scrumtime. However, Roseland grabbed a vital score after 66 minutes when Man of the Match, Will Rundle, went over in the bottom left corner following further forward surges. At 20-12, Roseland found themselves back to two scores in front.To the surprise of none, the visitors charged back forcing Roseland into rearguard action for most of the remaining minutes. With 5 minutes remaining, the visiting forwards closed the gap with a try in the top right corner following a 5 metre scrum to create an anxious finale for the Philleigh faithful. Fortunately, no further scoring meant that a valuable 20-17 win was secured.Overall, the match was played in great spirit and was a credit to both sides and the grass roots rugby that both clubs represent. In league terms, Roseland moved up to 6th place with a vital 8 point advantage over Helston who now prop up the division with 4 rounds of matches to play. Significantly, Roseland now move into a tough run of fixtures against each of the top three consecutively, hence the potential importance of this result. Next week, on Saturday 26th January, we travel away to Newquay Hornets.
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