St Austell Sinners 31 Roseland 14
Report by Nick Sylvester
On a bright afternoon with excellent underfoot conditions at Tregorrick, Roseland took on a well organised and determined St Austell side.
Playing down the slope with a gentle cross wind, Roseland had plenty of defending to do during the opening quarter, some of the pressure being self-inflicted by overplaying situations rather than taking opportunities to effectively clear their own 22. Eventually, after 25 minutes the home side drove over on the blindside of an attacking ruck which was well converted.
Roseland then enjoyed a period of ascendency before half time but couldn’t make the pressure count meaning that the deficit at half time was a single converted try.
The second half continued to be fairly even until St Austell extended their lead on 52 minutes following several driving phases by their forwards that resulted in an unconverted try.
Another strong Roseland spell was to follow which saw Ed Llewellyn crash over in the corner following a tidy lineout set piece after 62 minutes, to be excellently converted by Tom Day from wide out, which gave Roseland real hope at 12-7.
However, St Austell responded well and demonstrated their pace, talent and general decision making to score three further tries within a 10 minute period to seal the result. To their great credit, Roseland were still not done and Callum Grahamshaw touched down under the posts after an outside break just before the end to make a final 31-14 score line.
While never wishing to criticise any official, the match was refereed by the home team coach and, suffice it to say, that he did Roseland no favours.
Overall this was an excellent examination for Roseland against an experienced and well balanced St Austell side, most of whom have been playing and coached from a very young age. It will undoubtedly hold Roseland in good stead with the league schedule beginning in three weeks’ time.