Cornwall RLFC 14-60 Midlands Hurricanes Betfred League One

It was the away side who put the first points on the board with their very first foray forward thanks to Jack Dawson. The open side second row found a gap in the Cornwall defence to score a routine try with Ben Stead adding the extras with the conversion to make it 0-6 after nine minutes.

Midlands doubled their lead just three minutes later through similar circumstances, after winning a penalty high in the RLFC half it was the turn of open side prop Bradley Clavering two pierce his way through the defence to score, again with Stead adding a conversion.

The home side were staring down the barrel of defeat with 16 minutes played when the clinical Hurricanes struck again. Moving the ball quickly from left to right Matthew Welham’s low pass evaded the Choughs defence and landed fortunately for David Foggin-Johnston to score with Stead keeping the kicking boots on to make it 0-18.

The away side certainly showed their experience and know-how of the professional game to grab another with 20 minutes played. Welham this time turned from provider to scorer to tap down beneath the posts making it easy for Stead to kick to make it 0-24 to the away side.

Cornwall had a sniff at scoring their first try on home soil with 26 minutes played as Harry Aaronson slipped the ball over to Adam Jones who looked to be in to score but the referee deemed Aaronson’s pass to be forward and the chance went begging much to the disappointment of the home faithful.

Hurricanes then scored two tries in four minutes starting in the 28th minute when Dawson scored his second after latching onto a well-placed kick to score. In the 32nd minute, another try came from a kick when a low effort bobbled behind the home try line, but the improbable bounce of the ball fell kindly to Sean Croston who chased down the attempt to score to make it 0-34.

Hurricanes scored their last try of the half with 36 minutes played as Welham again found himself in the right place to get on the end of a David Scott pass to make it 0-40 at the break.

The visitors started the second half on the front foot and immediately increased the scoring when Hayden Freeman scored his first of the afternoon in the left corner. Stead failed to make the conversion from a tight angle as the scores went to 0-44 with 42 minutes played.

Five minutes later though the Memorial Ground erupted with the moment the majority of the ground had been waiting for thanks to Harry Aaronson. After pressing their opponents into the far left corner it was Cornwall’s number two who raced over the try line to score. Kyle Johns couldn’t nail the conversion though as the scores moved to 4-44.
Suddenly momentum had switched as the home crowd were celebrating again with 50 minutes played. Interchange Paul Bolger smashed through two tackles to work his way close to the line before passing the ball onto debutant Adam Jones to score. This time Johns made no mistake with the kick as the score moved to 10-44.

Brief hopes of an unbelievable comeback were snuffed out after 55 minutes though when Hurricanes hurled forward to extend their lead further with Dawson grabbing his hat trick and Stead superbly firing in from a wide-angle to make it 10-50.

The hosts weren’t finished yet though as they scored their last try of the match on the hour mark through Sam Snell. The number 16 did marvellously well under pressure to score in the far right corner under significant attention from the Hurricanes defenders. The conversion didn’t match the finish of the try though to make it 14-50.

Ultimately though it was Hurricanes who would have the final with two more tries in the final five minutes through Freeman converting in the far left corner for both of them as Stead could only bury one of the conversions to make the full time score 14-60.

Disappointment for the hosts but again there were positive signs to take from their performance, especially in the second half.