Redruth 14, Canterbury 10

Redruth left it late to stage a final quarter revival to overturn a 10-0 half-time deficit playing down the slope into the teeth of a gale, writes Bill Hooper.

Canterbury made a strong start with the wind at their backs with their big heavy forwards making good ground into the Redruth twenty-two.

They were rewarded with an opening try scored by centre Tom Best following good work by by Mackintosh on the wing, who did well to keep the ball alive.

Goal-kicking was to prove difficult in the conditions with Canterbury’s fly-half Harvey Young having no luck.

Redruth tackled like demons throughout as the waves of huge Canterbury forwards looked to storm their line just as Storm “Callum” was pounding the Cornish coast.

The Reds finally gone some territory in the opposing twenty-two but sadly chances went begging as they became too eager near the line.

Instead Canterbury increased their advantage with a second unconverted try scored just after the half-hour by full-back Aiden Moss following good forward pressure near the Redruth line. It remained 10-0 to the visitors at half-time.

Despite good possession Redruth found the Canterbury defence equally stout and tough to break down.

The breakthrough for Redruth had an element of good fortune, a kick ahead by full-back Aaron Simmonds appeared to rebound off a Canterbury player and into the arms of centre Jack Simmons who ran thirty meters to the line, tackled just short he managed to stretch and score. Simmonds added the extras to make it game on.

Good play from scum-half Jack Oulton set up the move that eventually led to a powerful forward drive from Redruth that saw replacement prop Jack Hodge driven over, Simmonds once more on the money with the extras.

The drama didn’t end there, Canterbury with two players in the bin could have struggled as Redruth looked to make the game safe, however Canterbury went back to basics camping under the Redruth posts for an age but couldn’t get over despite the twelve minutes of time added on.

The final whistle was greeted with huge cheers as Redruth made it six wins from seven starts and moved up to second place in the league table behind leaders Redingensians.

Redruth: Simmonds, Janes, Simmons, Gilbert, Cornish (Bonds 55), Tucker (Kevern 41), Oulton, Concu, Brown (Capt) (Gidlow 57), Williams (Hodge 55), Pascoe, Clemson (Howe 57), Grubb, Stevens, Fox.

Canterbury: Moss, Mackintosh, Sterling, Best T, Grimes, Young (Murray 64), Braithwaite (Smart 55), Cooper (Green 67), Otto (Edwards 64), Kenny (Wake-Smith 55), Cadman, Corker (Capt), Whetton, King, Stevens.

Referee: Ben Russell (RFU)

Crowd: 485

Redruth man-of-the-match: Jack Oulton

Redruth scores - Tries: Simmons 61, Hodge 69. Cons: Simmonds 62, 70

Canterbury scores - Tries: Best 12, Moss 32.