FALMOUTH  35

PENZANCE  33

Falmouth U12s stretched their unbeaten run to five matches with a hard-fought victory over Penzance at Tregenver on Sunday, writes Adam Laity. 

Falmouth were missing Bryn Owen, Archie Bunnell, James Stamp and Cameron Hopkins but were boosted by the return of Ben Read.

Penzance opened the scoring using their powerful forwards to force the ball over the line and successfully converted the try. From the restart, Falmouth pressed the opposition line and forced a handling error for Reuben to pounce, levelling the scores and Jack Blakeston successfully converted.

For the next quarter of an hour Falmouth dominated the proceedings. The pack was dominating the break downs with the captain Billy lead by example and the front row trio Josh, Isaac and Jack Snowdon showing good technique in the contact areas.

In the scrums, the Penzance pack was on top but the home tight five invariably managed a quick heel, enabling scrum half Ned Laity to whip the ball out to his backs.

Falmouth tried to move the ball wide at every opportunity and with excellent handling in very heavy conditions scored three further tries through Billy and Theo, who was enjoying an outstanding game, adding the others. Olly Evans was having an influential game at fly half, distributing the ball to good effect, to allow Jack Blakeston and Jasper Hartley to make inroads into the opposition defence.

In the final five minutes of the half, Falmouth eventually succumbed to the power of the Penzance forwards and let in two tries, but crucially only one was converted.

After a half time hail storm, Penzance were playing with the elements in their favour and quickly reduced the deficit with a converted try to bring them to within two points of Falmouth.

The game was now finely balanced, but the home side continued to try and move the ball at every opportunity. The half-back pairing of Ned and Olly, kept Jack Blakeston supplied with plenty of ball to run with, resulting in him being a constant thorn in the opposition defence.

Jack's decision-making has also been maturing of late, and has meant the Falmouth back line has been far more threatening. This more expansive game eventually led to Joe Carmichael setting off on a powerful run to cross the line for a converted try.

Penzance managed a final converted try but were just short of Falmouth's total, giving the home side their first win over this age group in five years. The commitment to training, exemplified by the likes Tommy Martin, has paid dividends to the U12s the season.

Falmouth U12: Tommy, Jasper, Theo, Jack B, Olly, Ned, Billy, Reuben, Josh, Isaac, Jack S, Ben, Joe