Titans V Redruth

Front five “power House” rewarded

Cory Teague was this week “Man of the Match” for Taunton this well-earned reward was a credit to work of the whole of the front five “powerhouse”.  In one set of play Cory took a short ball from a ruck, when tackled lay the ball back which went for Charlie Williams to drive on, Cory back on his feet took the ball again and laid it back for Isaac Dalton to storm on and who was there again for the next drive but Cory.  In the line out he won not only his own ball but that of Redruth which allowed our front five to be in the ascendancy.  From the kick off the ball was taken and went back to Gary Kingdom who sent a ranging kick into the Redruth half which they fielded and set off on a counter attack there final pass to the wing was forward but Freddy Fraser intercepted this forward pass and was away unopposed to the posts only to be brought back by the referee’s whistle for the forward pass infringement.  Relief on the faces of the very vociferous Redruth crowd and dismay on the Taunton supporters faces.  Both teams just took it in their stride and got on with the game.  From the resultant scrum Taunton sent in several waves of attack and was rewarded after 5 minutes with a penalty which Gary Kingdom duly obliged to convert giving Taunton a three points to nil lead. From the re-start there was wave after wave of Redruth Attacks and the sterling defence by Taunton kept Redruth out and although giving away penalties after nine and nineteen minutes these were missed by the Redruth kicker  to maintain that slender lead.  Taunton gradually came back into the game gaining possession and themselves had a penalty which Gary kingdom put into the corner for a lineout.  The lineout was a pleasure to see with quick ball off the top to Tate, a run around from the front of the line by Spurdle who burst through the middle to be heading for the posts only to be taken out around the neck by Redruth.  The resultant penalty was quickly taken and after several drives Isaac Dalton burrowed over for the try which Gary Kingdom converted.  He now only needed 1 more point to get to 2000 points for the club. Redruth responded like a rampant bee trying to sting everywhere and a superb effort by them to break clear, after 35 minutes was justly rewarded with a try by their full-back which he could not convert.  From the kick off they pressed again and could have been further in front but for two try saving tackles by Jack Arnott.  Further pressure again saw Alex Spurdle make an illegal tackle for which he received a yellow card with just 20 seconds of the half to go.  Redruth were unable to capitalise on the resultant penalty and the first-half finished Taunton 10 Redruth 5.

The second half started with Taunton down to 14 men and a reshuffle in the pack for Chris Francis to come on.  Redruth realised this and wave after wave of attack came which was repelled by the Taunton defence.  A change around in the backssaw Lewis Webb come on and Gary Kingdom go back to full back.  Taunton gradually fought out of their half and after some sustained forward pressure and still with only 14 men Chris Francis scored for Gary to convert and reach that 2000 points mark.  That score after 50 minutes saw Taunton restored to 15 men so to restrain Redruth and score within that 10 minute period showed tremendous effort by the whole team.  The try of the match which even the Redruth supporters applauded came with Taunton taking the ball in their own 22 which they attacked through Nick Mason who burst between the Redruth centres passed to Jack Arnott who ran around two Redruth backs before passing back inside toNick Mason who was away but got caught from behind, recycled the ball to Julian Salvi who threw a pass which was caught on his toes by the agile Gary Kingdom out to Freddie Fraser who scored in the corner Gary did not convert so the score went to Taunton 22 Redruth 5.  The game seemed to then ebb and flow with each side having opportunities until after 62 minutes the Taunton three quarters seemed to part the waves for the Redruth centre to ghost through and score for Redruth to convert taking the score to Taunton 22 Redruth 12.  From the kick off Taunton pressured the Redruth line and after 66 minutes were rewarded when Lewis Webb saw the gap went for it and using not only skill but his great upper body strength scored close to the posts. Gary Kingdom converted to take the score to Taunton 29 Redruth 12.  After some more very fiercely contested play this was the final score.

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