Veor 27 – Roseland 7
Saturday afternoon saw Roseland travel to Camborne to play Veor, who have moved locations this season, to the old Camborne School of Mines pitch behind Camborne Rugby Club.
Given the recent weather it must be said the pitch was looking in excellent condition and with only a slight breeze the supporters were hopefully in for an afternoon of running rugby.
Roseland were entering the fixture on the back of two excellent wins and Veor were also on a high having secured a thrilling backs to the wall victory away to Newquay the previous week.
The previous fixture between these two was a close fought affair and both sides were expecting the same this time. With 65 minutes on the clock this was proving to be the case with the score stalemated at 14-7.
Roseland kicked the game off playing against the slight breeze and up the little slope. Both sides were keen to play a following game and keep ball alive. The first 20 minutes were pretty even with both sides trying to exploit weaknesses. Both sent their heavy ball carriers charging up the middle but both sets of defences stood up firm to the battering rams. Veor had a penalty kick that struck the post and a driving maul that crossed the line but unfortunately the referee had already blown for a previous infringement.
Roseland had a few forays themselves with a clever chip over the top unlucky not to produce a try for No8 Nathan Chapman and several scrums in the Veor 22 just not quite producing the clean ball required.
Veor eventually broke the dead lock with a try outwide on the left flank after Roseland ran out of defenders. They also slotted a penalty for an 8-0 lead.
Roseland battled back and scored a well deserved try of their own. After several phases of retained possession a clever kick over the Veor defence put the Veor winger under pressure and he failed to gather the ball cleanly under pressure from Chapman and flanker Joe Warren and with the ball loose over the try line Warren gratefully dived on it. Fly half Davo Williams converted.
Half time soon followed and the score was 8-7 to Veor.
With the game so tight both sides were in with a sniff. Unfortunately for Roseland their discipline started to let them down and credit to the Veor scrum half who kicked for goal very well.
He slotted two penalties for a 14-7 lead.
Roseland, determined not to leave with nothing, kept battering away and playing rugby and were rewarded with a kickable penalty. Unfortunately Day’ attempt dropped agonisingly short under the cross bar, which would of brought the score to 14-10.
With 15 minutes to go and the score 14-7 Veor pulled ahead with another well taken penalty.
As the game entered the final 10 minutes Veor eventually pulled away. First via a well worked lineout try scored by their No8 after a lung bursting 40 metre run, beating several defenders on route.
The second try came after Veor stretched Roseland and their replacement winger just squeezed in at the corner beating the covering defence.
With time running out Veor pushed for the fourth try to seal the bonus point but credit to Roseland they not only kept Veor at bay but kept playing to the end.
The final score of 27-7 possibly slightly flattered Veor but Roseland never gave up and can go into next weeks home encounter with table toppers Hayle full of confidence.