Falmouth One & All 5 Roseland 17 

The weather played a major role in this second encounter with Cornwall one side Roseland, with the pitch drying out enough for the fixture to take place, writes Jeff Maddern.

The break in the relentless rain was welcome but it was replaced by strong winds which made any attempt to play expansive rugby out of the question.
Roseland adapted to the conditions better than their hosts and were able to ­contain Falmouth when ­playing with the strong prevailing wind.

They kicked off with the wind at their backs and were soon awarded a penalty 20 metres out and in front of the posts.

A schoolboy could have kicked this one but a gust of wind blew the ball against the post to rebound straight into the hands of Roseland who moved it wide for an easy 5 pointer.

Having missed a sitter the kicker slotted over the most difficult of conversions from the touch line to make the score 7-0.

Territory and possession was then evenly shared with both sides making basic handling errors, until well into the half, Falmouth were awarded a scrum on the attacking 5 metre line.

A well worked move off the back of the scrum saw centre Nick Winston crash over the whitewash for a well deserved try.

Anthony Gilbert scuffed the conversion attempt. before Roseland converted a penalty which brought the score to 10-5 at the break.

With the elements in Falmouth’s  favour and only a five points the difference, an upset looked a strong possibility, but Roseland had a good second half game plan and stuck to it, nullifying the conditions and stopping the One and All from taking territorial advantage.

Mid-way through the second period Roseland scored a simple try from the base of the scrum which gave them a 12 point lead.

This seemed to take the stuffing out of the hosts and they were unable to exert any more pressure on the visitors’ defensive line.

Fitness and lack of game time had a major impact on Falmouth’s performance but all credit to Roseland who were more tactically streetwise on the day winning 17-5.

Falmouth One & All play Hayle Away on Wednesday under lights 7 pm kick off.