Saltash 32, Falmouth 31

Falmouth fell to a 32-31 away defeat at the hands of Saltash in the first round of the Tribute Cornwall Cup on Saturday, writes Joseph Macey.

Ollie Church, Andrew Searle, Callum Penry and two tries from Nick Carne made for an enthralling cup game.

The Eagles got to the Quarter-Final stage of this competition last year and although they showed their determination to pull themselves back into the game on numerous occasions they just fell short.

Falmouth started brightly and took the lead within a minute as Nick Carne raced through to score. The play was disrupted by the wind and as a result the kick was missed which would be a feature of the day for both teams.

Saltash responded and found themselves ahead on 18 minutes when they scored a penalty and then found their first try of the game to lead 8-5.

Ollie Church added another try for Falmouth just before Saltash extended their lead and the home side led 15-10 at the break.

The Eagles had a slow start to the second half and left themselves with a lot to do after Saltash scored tries in quick succession to open up a 25-10 lead. Falmouth showed desire that has been an aspect of their game this season and took the game by the scruff of the neck to make the score 25-24 with tries from Andrew Searle and Callum Penry bringing them to within touching distance of Saltash’s total.

Saltash scored another try which would prove to be the decider and although Carne got his second try of the day to top off a superb individual performance they had left themselves with too much to do.

Packet Pick: Nick Carne

Falmouth: L. Humphreys, T. Job, C. Penry, N. Carne, T. Edmonds, K. Rodda, T. Spiller, T. Simmons, A. Robinson, K. Vinson, J. Baglow, S. Somers, A. Searle, O. Church, A. Tacchi. Falmouth reps: S. Firth, T. Vincent, A. Kindjarsky, D. Baldwin.

Falmouth will resume league action next Saturday at Winscombe (kick-off 3pm).