Rosslyn Park 36 Redruth 23
Headlines, Match Reports / Monday 24 January 2011
Ed Bawden reports from “The Rock” Roehampton
ROSSLYN PARK 36 REDRUTH 23
Redruth put in a spirited display but fell off too many first up tackles in the first half as they were beaten by 5 tries to 3 in an entertaining game of Rugby in South West London.
A bonus for the reds was the play of Sean Hawkey who came into the side for Lewis Vinnicombe who is likely to be out for a while, Hawkey scored a good individual try in the first half and put in a number of bulldozing runs.
Aaron Penberthy kicked of for Redruth on a cold damp day as the reds with the wind dominated play having three penalties and a free kick in the Park 22 but came away without scoring in the opening 5 minutes.
John Rudd the former Premiership player for Wasps and Newcastle was stretchered off after 7 minutes but his replacement Mark Atkinson soon made his mark for Park.
Penberthy hammered a penalty from the half way line in the 9th minute to put the reds ahead.
The hosts hit a couple of minutes later with Charlie Gower outstanding for Park cutting the defence for Atkinson to touch down a try that Ross Laidlaw converted from wide out on the left.
With the Reds missing too many first up tackles, Park had the space to play some attractive rugby with skipper Mark Lock and Gower prominent . Laidlaw kicking a simple penalty in the 18th minute and converting a try by Mike Baxter 5 minutes later as Park went 14 points ahead.
Reds skipper Mark Bright snapped up a loose ball to gain possession and Hawkey cutting in off his wing ran strongly for 35 meters to touchdown under the bar for Penberthy to convert in the 29th minute.
Full back Nev Edwards got a crucial try on the stroke of half time to send Park in with a 22-10 advantage.
Redruth started the second half well controlling the ball well Bright, Peter Joyce, Darren Jacques and Damien Cook all having their customary hard working games.
From a powerful scrum Nick Simmons was able to dart over for a try in the left hand corner 8 minutes after the restart.
When Penberthy put over a penalty 3 minutes later the Reds were in the game but a mistake trying to run out of defence conceded a scrum to Park and Lock stole away on the blind side to put Baxter over for his second try that Laidlaw converted from the touchline after 55 minutes.
A few minutes later Edwards brushed off a tackle to go over for a soft try, Laidlaw again adding the extras.
Redruth had the better of the last 10 minutes and a good play from Bright ended with Paul Thirlby crossing for an unconverted try in the right hand corner but the reds although showing good spirit were short of getting a bonus point.
Rosslyn Park
Tries: Baxter 2, Edwards 2, Atkinson
Con: Laidlaw 4
Pen Laidlaw
N Edwards; J Strong, C Gower, C Lewis, J Rudd (Rep M Atkinson 7 Min), R Laidlaw, M Baxter (Rep J Holmes 69 Min); N Huggett (Rep S Millard 61 Min), B Gotting (Rep A Tauialo h-t), B Williams, H Quigley, S Pape, A Gates, J Barrett (Rep J Burton 49-55 Min) M Lock (Capt) (Rep J Burto 66 Min)
Redruth
Tries: Hawkey, Simmons, Thirlby
Con: Penberthy
Pen Penberthy 2
P Thirlby; S Hawkey, S Parsons, N Pedley (Rep S Kenward 18 Min), M Bowden (Rep T Notman 63 Min); A Penberthy, N Simmons; D Jacques, R Brown (Rep M Gidlow 60 Min) P Joyce (Rep J Wright 75 Min), D Cook, L Collins, C Fuca, O Hambly (Rep S Wood 53 Min Rep J Wright %4-58 Min) M Bright (Capt)
Ref Terry Hall RFU
