WADEBRIDGE 50pts

FALMOUTH 24pts

ONLY a fortnight before these same two sides had shared the points in a 10-10 draw at the Recreation Ground and it seemed that the Cornwall and Devon League return fixture would be another keenly contested fixture.

However, as events turned out, nothing could have been further from the truth as Wadebridge upped their game to such an extent that Falmouth were unable to cope for sustained periods and the victorious home team ran in nine tries, only two of which were converted.

Falmouth did pull back 24 points - normally a very good score for any team visiting Wadebridge - but the team never recovered from another very poor start when they allowed the home side to run in 25 points in the first 20 minutes!

Miracles do happen but, on this occasion, the gap in team and individual performances between the two sides was always wide enough to keep Wadebridge out of reach with each attempt at a Falmouth rally.

On paper, Falmouth put out the strongest team available, with only Kevin Hughes and Scott Langdon missing through injury, but once again the side failed to start strongly enough and ended up losing badly.

Wadebridge had the early advantage of the slope and came out firing on all cylinders to sweep Falmouth aside as they ran in early tries through Shaun Hawkey, Dan Briscombe and Gareth Bilkey, one of which was converted by flyhalf James Kneale, who also kicked a penalty goal to open up a 20 point gap.

Falmouth were in danger of being completely overrun but, to the side's credit, they dug in hard and scored a well-worked try of their own through Ben Short after two quickly taken penalties.

There was now more urgency in the Falmouth approach and an unlikely revival looked possible when James Greville-Smith scored again for the visitors, but Wadebridge increased the gap once more through two further tries by Ian Bowling and Tom O'Donnell to make the half time score 30-10.

Falmouth were reduced to 14 men due to a sin-binning and this caused all sorts of problems. In the space of these ten minutes Wadebridge were able to exploit there numerical supremacy to such an extent that they ran in four further tries to add to Falmouth's pain.

Dan Briscombe, Alasdair McLennan and two by winger Ollie Hawkey were just enough to allow Wadebridge to make the half century while Falmouth kept going to contribute two of their own through Andy Lancaster and Ben Short, which were both converted by James Instance.

This was another disappointing away performance by a Falmouth team which produces attractive, competitive rugby at the Recreation Ground but which finds it difficult to reach that same high standard away from home. This inconsistency is the reason why Falmouth remain in seventh position in the league while Wadebridge continue to ride high in second position just behind Paignton.

Falmouth: J. Cremin, T. Colvin, R. Warwicker, A. Lancaster, S. Instance, A. Palmer, J. Allen, B. Short, L. Chapple, R. Hambly, T. Spiller, J. Instance, M. Slater, J. Greville-Smith, M. Dawes. Replacements: T. Gay, D. Pellow, C. McColl