Taunton Titans v Camborne

Over 1100 spectators packed into Veritas Park to watch an outstanding display of rugby from two of the best teams in the league as was said by the Camborne coach.  He stated that they were in real trouble with just 9-minutes to go and being fourteen points behind and they only got out of jail when a sloppy pass went behind Alex Ducker which he was able to turn and gather before kicking over the top and winning the footrace.  Up until that period his team had had less than 20% of possession and did not expect this lucky break. He felt that this was the turning point in the game.

The Titans kicked off and from the beginning you could see the pressure which they were going to put on Camborne.  The Titans gained possessional most from the start and maintained that possession for the first nine-minutes with Cambourne giving away penalties in order to stop the Titans attacks.  The first possession Camborne did have only went through 4 pairs of hands before being a forward pass giving the Titans the scrum and more possession, In that first 15 minutes the Titans had exerted so much pressure that Camborne had conceded 6 penalties.  From that sixth Louie Sinclair kicked to touch, Sam Leworthy won the ball and the Titans forwards drove at the Camborne line for Vaea Taione to go in for the try which Louie converted.  From the kick off Camborne started to show some of their ability with the ball in hand but some outstanding tackling around the base of the scrum and in the centre prevented any Camborne progression until the ball went wide to Harry Larkins who from the overlap progressed to the line, however, as happened on several occasions Ulster man Reece Malone stopped him but could not stop backrow Jordan Rose in support for Camborne to level the scores.

The Titans again dominated possession but conceded a rare penalty, only three in the first half.  From that penalty Camborne kicked to the corner and set themselves up to maul to the line however, from a well worked move where the scrum half ran around the base and took the ball at pace racing into the centre to feed Josh Matevasi running at the opposite angle to use his size and pace to burst through for the try and suddenly against the run of play Camborne had a 7-point lead.

The Titans were not deterred and still they attacked and Camborne continued to give away penalties, twelve in all for the first half.  On 37-minutes they attacked the line and Reece Malone now showed his pace and skills by making the extra man in the centre, exploiting the gap and racing through to score the try.  This levelled the score but the Titans then exploited one of the Camborne conceded penalties by kicking to touch.  With Sam Leworthy dominating the line so the maul was set up for Sam Prior to go over for the try which Louie converted.  This left the halftime score at the Titans 21 Cambourne 14.

Winning the ball from there-start the Titans continued their possession dominance but given the opportunity Sam Prior who seemed inspired in this game drove through tackles and with the ball coming back to Nick Mason who made a break before handing onto our second Ulsterman Ben Heath on the wing. Ben raced for the line with the Cambourne defence shutting him down he sent a well-timed pass back inside to Nick Mason who finished the job he had started for the try which Louie converted.

The Titans seemed comfortable but Camborne with the little possession they did have always looked dangerous soon 56-minutes Cambourne wing Harry Larkins was able to race through for the try.  This reduced the deficit to just7-points and that was reduced even further when Fullback Kyle Moyle kicked a penalty for Cambourne.  However the Titans quickly restored those three points with Louie kicking a penalty,  This seemed to drive the Titans on and it was “man of the match” Ollie Schuster-Wood who had tackled ferociously throughout the game this time drove at pace at the opposition laying back quick ball which moved left to Jay Toogood who was able to feed inside to Shai Bonnick coming from his opposite wing to burst through three would be tacklers and get to the line.  The Titans had a fourteen-point lead with just fourteen minutes left.

Alex Ducker’s try then gave a tense  eight minutes and when the Titans were reduced to fourteen players with just two-minutes to go it became even more tense.  The Titans give away a rare penalty and Camborne kick to touch but the Titans drive them back but Camborne retain possession with replacement scrum half Will Tanswell exploiting the gap to score and so the kick made the scores even.  From the kick off the Titans again pressed and the ball came back to our third Ulsterman Dan Martin who set off at pace for the corner only to be forced into touch just short of the line.  So close as the game was all afternoon.

Tony Yapp after the game said how proud he was of the whole team against such a good team as Camborne.  He was pleased with the intent showed by both teams and so pleased with the performance of his players.  I am sure that all of the spectators will echo those sentiments.

Next week the Titans make the trip to Birmingham to face Bournville whilst the Warriors are also on the road again to Chosen Hill between Cheltenham and Gloucester.  Whilst the Warriors had a comfortable win at home they will have to work hard at Chosen Hill.  The Bournville game was hard fought at home for the Titans where they won by just 7 points so they will need to be in best form up in Birmingham. The next home game for the Titans is Friday 24^th January under lights against Exeter University so we look forward to seeing you all then.