Wellington beat Truro 51-24. This match had an end of season feel for both sides, writes Paul Waygood, as neither were in danger of relegation or promotion and therefore played with freedom in a quest to just win the contest.
The home side took the early lead after five minutes when they were denied the try as they drove a set scrum towards the visitors try-line with the Truro scrum half lucky not to have been yellow carded when he illegally kicked the ball from the home back rows feet. Mark Nichols converted.
The visitors were back on level terms on the quarter hour mark however when a missed tackle by the home side allowed the ball to be run deep into home territory with flanker Luke Trescothick scoring, fly half Jake Champion converting.
Wellington hit back straight away as they fielded a very high clearance kick and fed the elusive Ben Williams who jinked and sidestepped his way at pace to go over the line for an unconverted score.
The see-sawing continued as Truro took full advantage of a penalty in the home twenty two as Ricky Brandham scampered away after a quickly taken tap kick to go past the home defence who did not react quickly enough to deny the score. Champion again added the extra two for the visitors to take the lead for the only time in the match.
It was obvious the Wellington threes were the better unit and as they set up another penetrating foray into the away sides half this time through the extremely promising back Will Brewer. Unfortunately he picked up a shoulder injury in the ensuing tackle and had to retire from the fray.
Ascendancy was regained as the Truro open side flanker was sin binned for killing play at a ruck close to their line and from the elected set scrum number eight, Micky Norman, picked up and simply ran over all-comers to score an unconverted try.
The three point advantage was eliminated however as Champion slotted his third kick with a penalty for the game to be evenly balanced at the half.
The Red and Blacks stepped up a gear in the second period with an early try from Nichols following excellent play by flanker Andy Brown.
With Will McKegney having replaced the unlucky Brewer the problems were mounting for the visitors as he and fly half Paddy Dean both set about exposing their frailties and with ex skipper Tim Jenkinson controlling proceedings from scrum half it was only a matter of time before they put the game beyond the Cornishmen’s reach.
This was not long in coming when youngster Ben Gamlin, playing in an unaccustomed role at centre, finished a sweeping move down the left with Dean converting from wide out.
The Chiefs immediately got another from the restart with another incisive break from McKegney, well supported by tireless Skipper Lloyd Willcocks and inevitably Dean, as they contrived to return the ball to McKegney who had followed the play all the way and he carved inside from the right to evade the cover and score to give Dean another conversion.
A penalty followed shortly after which was also easily kicked by him and another try came from the tireless Brown who gained possession from sloppy passing by the visitors and he raced away from their ten metre line with Dean again converting.
Replacement and crowd favourite Anthony Gill now started to make an impact with a couple of trademark charges being stopped before he managed to get back up from a third to receive the final pass and go over to the huge delight of the supporters in the Clubhouse corner.
With matters well and truly settled there was a slight relaxation which the visitors made the most of with the final consolation score being made by Ashley Riches with Champion converting.
Whilst the eye-catching play came mostly from the threes and back row this would not have been possible without the solid platform provided by the front five where props Lee Wadham and Craig Shore played their full part along with hookers John Hendy and Joe Dyke, backed up by the power and experience of Taylor Buller and player coach Dave Sims all of whom deserve recognition for an all-round excellent performance.
Match report courtesy of WRFC