Falmouth 25 - Helston 27

Falmouth hosted Helston on Saturday in a match that saw the lead change hands multiple times before the visitors clinched a narrow victory in the final minutes, writes Jon Baglow.

The game ended 25-27, with Falmouth’s dominant but somewhat impotent first-half performance proving no match for Helston’s resilience and a series of late penalties.

Falmouth set the tone early, gaining ground in the scrum and executing a superb penalty kick from hand by full-back Ethan Williams, pinning Helston on their five-metre line.

After controlling play for a few phases, Bryn Owen capitalised on space out wide, beating the last man to dive over the line for Falmouth's first try. Williams added a challenging conversion to bring the score to 7-0.

A lapse in Falmouth's discipline led to a penalty directly in front of the posts, and former Eagle Tom Townsend stepped up to reduce Helston’s deficit to 7-3 after 25 minutes.

Closing out the half, Owen nearly slipped into the right-hand corner for his second try, and the Eagles picked up a consolation penalty which Williams duly struck sweetly. Onlookers were surprised to see the scoreboard read only 10-3, with the hosts clearly on top at the break.

Helston squandered an opportunity down the left wing shortly after the restart, which seemed to fire up the Eagles. Seb Firth intercepted a pass and, though his 10-metre head start evaporated quickly, managed to offload to Williams, who found Owen. Owen then linked up with Cam Bullock to finish under the posts. Williams converted to extend Falmouth's lead to 17-3.

Helston bounced back through their captain, Jack Jenkin, who powered over near the left post. Fin Holden added the conversion, closing the gap to 17-10.

Soon after, Helston’s left winger Amori Matanatabu finally broke through Falmouth’s defence, scoring in the corner, and Holden’s conversion levelled the scores at 17-17.

Helston continued to pressure a Falmouth defence that was beginning to falter. Blindside flanker Lewis Eustice broke through a weakened Falmouth defensive line to score, with Holden converting to put Helston ahead for the first time, 17-24.

Falmouth rallied. A penalty in midfield allowed them to set up a ten-metre line-out, which Scott Dunstan safely caught to set up a drive. Firth added considerable weight to the maul, eventually touching down for Falmouth's third try. However, the conversion was missed, leaving Falmouth trailing by two points at 22-24 with 15 minutes remaining.

Sensing the urgency, Falmouth’s Head of Rugby, Tom Spiller, subbed himself on to help secure the win, making an immediate impact with a line break. With five minutes to go, Williams stepped up for a long-range penalty from the 40-metre mark, nailing it to put Falmouth back in front 25-24.

In the dying minutes, a penalty for a high tackle gave Helston one last chance. Townsend coolly slotted the kick to edge the visitors ahead 25-27 to leapfrog Falmouth to third in the league.

Falmouth play St Agnes in the Cornwall Cup away next week – kick-off at 2.30pm, while Helston play St Just.