Penzance & Newlyn 76

Tabard 11

National League Division Three south

The run up to this game was not a happy one for Tabard who experienced a number of injuries together with players unable to make the 320 mile trip to Penzance.

On the day they were only able to muster the bare 15 players with no travelling substitutes.

On the other hand, the Pirates were able to field their first full strength team this year and when the elements combined to produce a day designed for running rugby there could only ever be one result.

With their strong Fijian, Tongan and New Zealand influence the Pirates were just too strong for Tabard.

Despite this the 15 men on the field, together with the coaches and physio who kept them going, deserve nothing but praise for the way they conducted themselves.

The Pirates ran in four tries within the first 25 minutes to set the tone of the game but Tabard refused to sit back and give in.

Fielding a ball deep inside his own half Skinner kicked deep into the Pirates' half and the supporting runners caused them to make an uncharacteristic error which gave Skinner a penalty and three valuable points.

Within minutes Tabard pressed again and were rewarded with a second Skinner penalty conversion.

The Tabard forwards then showed exactly why they have become one of the most feared units in the league when they drove a rolling maul from the halfway line to within yards of the Pirates' line.

With a scrum awarded in their favour the Pirates tried to run from defence but were tackled into touch to give the Tabard forwards a second opportunity.

This time they drove to the Penzance line and finally their pressure was rewarded when Elvery drove over for the try, converted by Skinner.

The Pirates were obviously stung by this, and responded with tries by their centre and wings to make the half time score 38 11.

Despite numerous repetitions of their dominance in the rolling maul, Tabard were unable to convert these to points in the second half.

The quality of the Pirates' three quarters was ably demonstrated when they ran in six further tries without response.

With just the 15 man squad, Tabard were totally unable to bring on the "fresh legs" that they so clearly needed, but at no stage did they ever stop trying.

Having travelled for the game I was proud of all those on the field and a special note should be made of the dedication of Richard Elvery the Tabard try scorer.

He left a heavily pregnant wife to make the trip and immediately following the final whistle set off to drive back to her.

TABARD: Drew, Telling, Williams, Mitchell, Collette, Woodard, Skinner, van der Groot, Elvery, Lockwood, Simpson, Sussum, Sharp, Adams, Bromham.

Tabard have no league game this week, but travel to Old Fullerians on Sunday to play their Herts Presidents Cup semi-final with a 2.00pm kick off.