National 2 South

Redruth 29, Taunton Titans 27

TAUNTON came away from this Westcountry derby with two league points but, if they had showed the same endeavour that they displayed in the last 10 minutes in the first 70 minutes, they could well have come away with the maximum, writes Keith Brooking.

The Titans that started the brightest and, after some pressure in the Redruth 22, were awarded a penalty which fly half Sam Brown kicked to take an early lead.

Ten minutes later and the home side’s first real passage of pressure in the Taunton half led to a penalty that fly-half Rich Kevern slotted over to tie the scores.

The rest of the first half was error-strewn and turned into a stop-start game, with the Titans guilty of trying to over complicate certain aspects of their game as well as failing on some of the basics when they were close to the Redruth line.

The home side were reduced to 14 men for 20 minutes when first hooker Matt Gidlow was shown a yellow card for a late shot on Lewis Webb and, as he returned, prop Craig Williams left for some back chat.

The Titans couldn’t capitalise on their man advantage as they made mistake after mistake.

Redruth kept themselves in the game with some great defence and when it was their turn to attack they did just that.

The hosts’ next chance of some points was taken just before the end of the half when they kicked to the corner and showed the visitors how to score a driving maul try and make the most of a man advantage.

The Titans were giving away far too many penalties and, after several in a row, the referee showed Milo Reynolds a yellow card.

The penalty was kicked to the corner again and as Redruth were moving towards the line the referee judged that the Taunton pack collapsed the maul and awarded a penalty try which gave the hosts a 10-3 lead at the half-time whistle.

Redruth then stretched their lead at the start of the second half when winger Dean Bonds broke through some poor Titans defence and raced through to score.

This meant that Redruth had scored 12 points while Taunton were a man down, while Taunton hadn’t scored any points despite having had twice as long.

Just over 10 minutes later Redruth scored again, this time through full-back Aaron Simmonds, with Kevern converting to give them a 22-3 lead.

Taunton started to get themselves into the game by recycling the ball well and the visitors’ scrum having the upper hand, claiming penalties and opting to take the home pack on up front.

After several forward drives the ball was released out wide and winger Oscar Kolowski scored his third try in 2 weeks.

The conversion was missed but the Titans now had a spring in their step and went after the tiring Redruth team.

Taunton moved the ball from the kick off and made it deep into the home 22.

Following several strong scrums from the visiting pack, overcoming the embarrassment of last seasons scrum against Redruth, the Titans were awarded a penalty try.

The gap closed to one converted try but again the Titans compounded their frustration by throwing an interception which James Tucker gleefully picked out and ran in from just outside the Taunton 22.

Simmonds converted to make it a 14-point lead with five minutes to go.

The Titans didn’t give up and flanker Ratu Vakalutukali powered his way through some tackles to run in from the Redruth 10-metre line.

The conversion was missed but the Titans had the last say when once again their pack showed their dominance in the scrum, claiming a second penalty try, but it was too late to change the result.

Taunton Titans; Rice, Kolowski, Fraser, Keay, Struminski, Brown, Webb, Baker, Spurdle, Dalton, Reynolds, England, Vakalutukali, Hayler, Prior. Replacements; Francis, Haines, Oliphant-Thompson, Harvey, Nash

Attendance: 810