On Saturday 22nd May, we welcomed The Hakes to the sports centre for our second game since returning from the lockdown. St Ives had a few familiar faces and some young up and coming talent in their ranks. It was actually great to see such a big club back playing again and finding their feet. The game started at a frantic pace with both sides looking to attack and spread the ball around the field, but both defences held firm for the first quarter of the match. Newquay looked the more composed side initially, possibly as they had already played the previous week, however, St Ives grew into the match and had some very powerful and talented ball carriers. Newquay were first to strike though, with some patient build up play, which eventually created the space out wide for Kris Evans to score in the corner. With a 5-0 lead, Newquay were looking to push on and pressurise the visitors, but it was the Hakes that took the game by the scruff and started to make some serious dents in the home defence. Discipline and a few missed tackles from the Hornets allowed the Hakes to gain some good field position and their pressure finally told, when young number 8 and their Man of the Match on debut, 17 year old Perkins went over for a try. This was converted by player coach Prisk (who has returned to club from Redruth this season) for a 7-5 lead over the Hornets. Despite this set back, the Hornets regrouped and once again defended well in the midfield and caused a lot of frustration for the Hakes, who were now making a few errors of their own, gifting the Hornets possession and field position. The Hornets looked like they had taken the lead again just before half time when a well timed pass to winger Sam Crisp, sent him flying over in the corner, only for the referee to disallow it for a foot in touch. The half ended shortly after and both sides were happy for the breather and water break.
The second half started much the same as the first, with both sides trying to find space on the edges, but the defence on both sides held firm and there were a lot of turnovers as a result. With both sides conceding free kicks for unforced errors, territory swayed both ways, but it was the Hornets who were to break to deadlock and after finding space on the left side of the field, some great inter passing and footwork created the room for Kris Evans to race away for his second try of the match and this one was converted by Ethan Morgan for a 12-7 lead. Hornets looked dangerous now, but despite creating several opportunities were just unable to convert that pressure into points. Again the game went from end to end and both sides had scoring opportunities but the defences to their credit were excellent throughout. Eventually with only 2 minutes remaining, a missed tackle out wide allowed the Hakes outside centre to cross for a well deserved try to bring the scores level at 12-12, the conversion, much to the relief of the Hornets went wide of the uprights and to be fair gave the game a fair result in the end. Both teams will be happy with the score and there were plenty of positives for both sets of coaches to take from the game.
Hornets coach Ian Morgan had this to say “ Firstly it was really good to St Ives back playing rugby again after a tough 12-18 months down there. With regards to the game itself, it could of gone either way to be honest, but a draw was a fair reflection of play in the end. We can take a lot of positives out of this game and it also shed the spotlight on a few areas we need to improve on before our next game. Really pleased though with the players attitudes out there, not just today, but in training too, they are responding to things and improving all the time, which is all we can ask of them. In the opening 2 games we have used 26 players, plus we have 2-3 out injured and several away with now with cricket season, so numbers are looking really promising for the coming season. I have to say how great it was today to see so many people turn out to support the team too, that is so important for the lads and really gives them a boost and hopefully we can produce some good rugby for them to watch in the future.
The second half started much the same as the first, with both sides trying to find space on the edges, but the defence on both sides held firm and there were a lot of turnovers as a result. With both sides conceding free kicks for unforced errors, territory swayed both ways, but it was the Hornets who were to break to deadlock and after finding space on the left side of the field, some great inter passing and footwork created the room for Kris Evans to race away for his second try of the match and this one was converted by Ethan Morgan for a 12-7 lead. Hornets looked dangerous now, but despite creating several opportunities were just unable to convert that pressure into points. Again the game went from end to end and both sides had scoring opportunities but the defences to their credit were excellent throughout. Eventually with only 2 minutes remaining, a missed tackle out wide allowed the Hakes outside centre to cross for a well deserved try to bring the scores level at 12-12, the conversion, much to the relief of the Hornets went wide of the uprights and to be fair gave the game a fair result in the end. Both teams will be happy with the score and there were plenty of positives for both sets of coaches to take from the game.
Hornets coach Ian Morgan had this to say “ Firstly it was really good to St Ives back playing rugby again after a tough 12-18 months down there. With regards to the game itself, it could of gone either way to be honest, but a draw was a fair reflection of play in the end. We can take a lot of positives out of this game and it also shed the spotlight on a few areas we need to improve on before our next game. Really pleased though with the players attitudes out there, not just today, but in training too, they are responding to things and improving all the time, which is all we can ask of them. In the opening 2 games we have used 26 players, plus we have 2-3 out injured and several away with now with cricket season, so numbers are looking really promising for the coming season. I have to say how great it was today to see so many people turn out to support the team too, that is so important for the lads and really gives them a boost and hopefully we can produce some good rugby for them to watch in the future.
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