Withycombe 62pts Falmouth Eagles 17pts
10:06am Thursday 20th September 2012 in Sport
By Simon Larkins, Sports Editor
Falmouth RFC fell to their first defeat of the season on Saturday as they were reduced to 13-men as two players were sent-off.
It was this ill-discipline which ulitmately cost the Eagles the match as they were forced into damage-limitation mode against a strong Withycombe outfit.
The first sending off came after just five minutes when an off-the-ball incident, involving Withycombe’s winger and Falmouth’s inside centre James Dobson, finished with Dobson striking his opponent and receiving a straight red card.
What made matters worse was the fact Falmouth were about to recieve a penalty for the original altercation.
The home side then took control of the match to score three unanswered tries and a penalty.
However, Falmouth rallied and scored two tries of their own before halftime.
The first came from a well-worked lineout move allowing captain Simon Bailey to dot down.
And the second was a good team score. After line-breaks from Paddy Varker and Reeves, young Kieran Rodda made an overlap count to make the score 24-12.
After this brief good spell the Eagles once again became architects of their own downfall, with hooker AJ Geach recieving a yellow card for more unecessary off-the-ball antics.
This time the referee also binned the Withycombe flanker.
This was some justice for Falmouth as they had been continually provoked throughout the game.
And despite ending the half with only 13 men they were very much in the match at just 24-12.
After a fiery exchange during the break involving the coaches of both sides the game continued and Withycombe took the intiative early in the second half scoring further tries.
Things then went from bad to worse for Falmouth as the returning Geach received a second yellow for more handbags.
With a two-man advantage Withycombe made Falmouth pay running in a further seven tries.
Falmouth through Tom Spiller did score again themselves, but it ended as a disappointing game for Falmouth with a 62-17 scoreline.
There were some positives for Falmouth with notable performances from Kieran Rodda and Jimmy Ball making his first team debut.
However, Falmouth will have to cut out their hot-headed nature and dissent towards the match officials if they are to get back to winning ways this Saturday at Hayle.
Try Scorers for Withycombe: Sampson (2), M Richards, Williams(2), D Richards, Rodwell (2), Perkins (2): Cons, Steer 6
Try Scorers for Falmouth: Bailey, Rodda, Spiller; con, Spiller
