FALMOUTH 13pts

Tries: D Pellow, J Doney

Penalty: J Instance

WELLINGTON 0pts

Falmouth: T. Somers, C. Pollard, A. Palmer, S. Instance, H. Somers, C. McColl, J. Doney, A. Lawton, T. Spiller, M. Biggins, J. Greville-Smith, R. Hambly, M. Slater (capt), D. Pellow, J. Instance. Replacements: T. Gay, T. Honey, S. Kent.

OVER the last couple of seasons, the matches between Falmouth and Wellington have produced close, competitive, ding-dong encounters and this one turned out to be no different.

Both sides attempted to play open, attacking rugby throughout, but their defences proved hard to break as almost every attack was met with stout resistance. However, on the balance of play, Falmouth came away with a deserved first league victory against opponents which will be challenging for league honours once again this year.

From the start Falmouth attacked at a frantic pace and Wellington were forced to defend in their own half. For six minutes they held out well until they underestimated the value of a mazy run by scrumhalf Tom Spiller who did well to weave his way up the touchline before delivering a scoring pass to winger Darren Pellow who came up on the inside.

Falmouth continued to harry and cause concern in the Wellington ranks, especially when Ashley Lawton and his two flankers were breaking the gainline from the base of the scrums.

To their credit, the visitors were not going to be caught napping twice and they responded with several flowing three-quarter moves as they turned defence into attack. Flyhalf Ryan Garland dummied and opened up a gap before sending away right wing Mickey Norman on a clear run to the Falmouth line where he was just cut off by the covering defenders.

From now on Wellington were establishing territorial advantage and the Falmouth outsides had to attack from distance, but despite the cut and thrust of this highly competitive game there were no further scores and half time arrived with Falmouth just one score in front.

Both sets of supporters realised that the next score could be crucial in deciding the outcome of the game, so things were tense on the touchlines as both sides failed to convert very kickable penalty goals.

Wellington had started the more aggressively and pinned Falmouth back until the 60th minute when the home team managed to break out with a long clearance kick by Matt Biggins. Falmouth now pressurised the Wellington line from both scrums and lineouts and eventually James Instance slotted over an important penalty goal when Wellington strayed offside.

With Falmouth 8-0 up Wellington had to attack through their outsides and Norman was once again cut off close to the home line as the defence was stretched but refused to yield.

With Falmouth now controlling the lineouts through Steve Instance and Harry Somers, it seemed that more scores would come, but the stubborn defence of the visitors prevented the home side from making the most of their territorial advantage. Eventually, with time running out, Falmouth launched a sweeping three-quarter movement to the left and replacement winger Steve Kent cut back inside to feed Ashley Lawton on the burst. With the Wellington defence now breached, the ball was recycled and Falmouth, with a massive overlap, eventually gave Justin Doney the easiest of debut tries.

On Saturday Falmouth "Chiefs" travel to Crediton while the "A" team are at home to St Agnes in a friendly fixture.