Western Counties West
St Austell 1st XV 28, Wellington 1st XV 14

IT’S not very often such a vital game can be lost with what it seems like is a heavy defeat but, in reality, it was far from the truth - this was definitely the case with this match, writes Allyn Chetland.

A hellish journey of nearly four hours saw The Red & Blacks arrive 30 minutes after the scheduled kick-off time due major traffic accident on the motorway. 

The match eventually started at 3.45pm with minimal warm-up for The Red & Blacks.

With the long journey still in the Red & Blacks’ legs, St Austell exploited this to the maximum scoring four converted tries within the first 20 minutes - although, it must be said, two of these tries were extremely debatable to say the least.

The first came from an advancing St Austell scrum on The Red & Blacks’ 5m line; the hosts’ No 8 lost control of the ball and the referee awarded a penalty try with no Wellington player anywhere near the ball. 

The second involved two forward passes which were not spotted - 14 points against which was ultimately the difference between the teams: when your luck is out, it’s definitely out!

In the last 20 minutes of the half, The Red & Blacks started to get to grips with the physically bigger opponents and played some excellent rugby. 

These efforts were rewarded when the outstanding George Hooper took an excellently-timed pass from outside-half Patrick Jarman to cut through the hosts' backline to score from 40 metres out. Full-back Tom Hawkings made no mistake with the extra points.

Further pressure saw the hosts hastily clear their line but the result was an attacking lineout for The Red & Blacks on St Austell’s 5m line. 

The lineout was superbly claimed by the impressive Sandy Kiddle.

Despite the weight advantage against them, the Red & Blacks pack put together an excellent rolling maul.

Stand-in scrum-half Alex Davey saw a gap and dived over virtually untouched for the try. Hawkings again made no mistake with the extra two.

The second half was a ding-dong affair but no further scores for either side. 

The Red & Blacks continued in the same vain as they ended the first, playing some excellent rugby and were very unlucky not to score a further two or three tries.

St Austell had their chances also but, time and time again, The Red & Blacks repulsed these attacks, often stealing the ball at crucial times. 

The whole squad can be justify proud of their performance.There were lots of shattered faces and bruised bodies at the end of the match - the lads gave their all. 

There is no game over Easter but the Red & Blacks return to action the following weekend when they travel to fellow strugglers Crediton in what is the last league game of the campaign.