Wellington suffered their third defeat in a row in a tight-fought loss 12-13 to League leaders St Austell. However all of these games could have been won. Indeed this and last week’s last minute loss at Torquay should have resulted in wins.
Matt Shepherd kicked a penalty to reduce the arrears for the visitors just before the interval as conditions deteriorated due to heavy rain. In an eventful game, St Austell maintained their position at the top of Western Counties West despite trailing 12-0 at one stage in the first half..
Wellington suffered a big setback in the second half when they had Trae Gosling sent off and this was the signal for the Cornish side to up their game.
However if the referee, who conducted the proceedings well had seen a definite and perfectly legal gounding in PP corner the result would probably have gone Wellington’s way. This incident came after Wellington’s forwards totally overwhelmed the visitor’s counterparts.
Ian Venner scored a try for the leaders converted by Shepherd who also kicked a crucial penalty four minutes from the end.
But even then Wellington had a chance to win the game when they were awarded a late penalty themselves but Mark Nichols’ kick fell short in the atrocious conditions.
In the first half Anthony Gill and Gosling scored tries for Wellington, the first one featuring slick handling and positive running. Mark Nichols converted one.
Paul Waygood
Report courtesy of WRFC