Falmouth U13s draw line in sand with victory over Hayle

Occasionally, there comes a point in a season where a performance means that a new line needs to be drawn in the sand, and such a mark was made this Sunday morning at the Recreation Ground, writes Adam Laity.

The U13s completed their first ever victory against one of the strongest sides in the county. The majority of the present squad have been playing together for the past six years and until this weekend, had always ‘enjoyed’ a good pasting at the hands of the visitors.

However, for those watching the opening minutes it may well have appeared that Falmouth were about to suffer a similar fate to previous meetings, Hayle converting their opening try after only five minutes .

But for the next fifteen minutes Falmouth stuck doggedly to their task of tackling and defending against a confident and able visiting side.

Falmouth worked hard, but any ball that was won was slow and untidy, and attacking opportunities were few and far between.

Another converted try by the visitors before half time still meant that Falmouth were closer to their Hayle counterparts at this stage than in any previous meetings.

The first ten minutes of the second half gave Falmouth the confidence and belief that an upset was possible. The pace of the game vastly increased, with the home side starting to ruck beyond the ball and providing much quicker ball which opened up the visitors defence.

Man of the match, Billy Bateson was to score the first of his three tries, out-flanking the defence to score between the posts.

The game continued to be a lot more open and with Falmouth stretching the play much better than in the first half, another long range effort from Billy brought the scores level.

The pressing of the opposition by the home defence was seeing a lot of ball being turned over. Max, Theo and Archie were working very hard at disrupting these Hayle attacks. With less than ten minutes left, Billy scored another super converted try and Falmouth had entered uncharted territory.

The big Hayle lock was to score out wide before the end of the game, but the conversion was missed. The Falmouth U13s were euphoric at the final whistle and justifiably so after their best game ever!

The ‘crunchie bar’ award went to Alex Gray, who has worked hard in training and made some important tackles during the game.

Falmouth Squad: Cameron Hopkins; Josh Stevens, Ned Laity, Isaac Hayes, Olly Evans, Jack Blakeston, Jack Snowdon, Theo Fleming, Jago Hammersley, Jasper Hartley, Reuben Neale, Bryn Owen, Dylan Heidstrom, Max Mason, James Drage-Hubert, Archie Bunnell, Tommy Martin, Billy Bateson, Ben Read, Lewis Pirrie, Alex Gray, Tom Bick, Joe Carmichael, Aiden Wallace, Freddie Williams.