Reds take derby spoils
Derby days are what the old fashioned amateur game was all about. As former players congregate in stands and terraces like that of Redruth's Recreation Ground, tales of yesteryear are still common place.
In modern times, however, things are changing. Sure, the on-field battle between your nearest and dearest is just as important, but will such pre-match banter still exist in ten years time? It seems unlikely.
With a greater influx of foreign stars, coupled with a more professional approach from the leading clubs, modern-day derbies are quite often seen as 'just another game' by a certain element of coaches and players.
Not so for those who contested Saturday's Duchy derby between Redruth and the Cornish All Blacks. Not only were local bragging rights on offer, but also crucial league points as the division's top two sides looked to preserve their unblemished starts to the season.
In the end, it was Nigel Hambly's Redruth who were celebrating following a hard fought 19-13 victory. And it was a success – their first over the All Blacks in league battle – that lifted them to the summit of National League Two.
The All Blacks, who had travelled down from Launceston having sealed maximum reward from their first four fixtures, could have few complaints.
In tricky conditions at the Rec, Redruth produced a game plan which was simple, yet highly effective. Unlike other games this season where they were willing to unleash their potent back division, on this occasion they preferred to use good old fashioned forward momentum to extinguish the threat of their near-neighbours.
It certainly worked a treat for much of Saturday's game, although the home side did have to withstand a late period of pressure from the All Blacks, who today will be counting the cost of Tim Collier's unnecessary yellow card, as well as a series of needless penalties.
Roused pre-match by a changing room visit from former England and British Lions international Richard Sharp, who presented the team with their jerseys for the game, Redruth were the quickest out of the blocks.
Inside five minutes they were awarded their first chance of points when Collier was penalised for holding on in the tackle, but on this occasion home fly-half Mark Scrivener was unable to punish his former club as his 40-metre kick sailed just wide.
With both sides looking to gain the early ascendancy, the opening quarter was littered with handling errors and neither team was able to take control.
On 21 minutes, though, the deadlock was broken when Scrivener atoned for his earlier miss when he slotted the first of three penalties.
As the half ticked by, still the arm wrestle between the respective packs continued. It was, however, Redruth who again grabbed the initiative through a clever piece of play from scrum-half Mark Richards.
With the home pack being shunted back at pace from a scrum on the All Blacks 22, Richards took it upon himself to take control at the base, before sniping down the blindside and offloading the ball to winger Lewis Vinnicombe who raced over for the opening try.
It was no more than Redruth deserved for their sterling efforts, but they were unable to add to their score before the break and there was concern amongst the home faithful during the interval as to whether their team had put enough points on the board.
On the resumption, however, Scrivener soon settled those nerves as he slotted another decent penalty. Not for the first time in the game, Collier had his own take on referee Terry Hall's decision to award the kick. The man in the middle, however, had clearly had enough of the lock's tirade and banished the former Worcester forward to the sin-bin for ten minutes.
As Collier trudged off to a chorus of boos, the All Blacks needed a lift of some sort. Fly-half Adam Staniforth brought it with a 52nd minute penalty, but no sooner had the visitors given themselves a chance, they undid their hard work with a costly turnover.
Capitalising on a loose ball, Redruth worked it to the left flank where Nathan Pedley raced down the touchline before slipping the ball back inside for skipper PJ Gidlow to make it 16-3.
With Collier restored to the fray, plus some fresh blood introduced from the bench, slowly the All Blacks began to find some form. Staniforth and Scrivener traded penalties, before the visitors set up a thrilling conclusion.
Keeping it tight, the All Blacks rumbled forward in the dying stages with a series of attacks, one of which saw replacement Steve Pape driven over for a try, which Staniforth converted.
Even then there was still time for the All Blacks to snatch a late victory. However, try as they may, nothing was going to stop Redruth on this occasion. The home side defended as though their lives depended on it and in the end they were rock solid, much to the joy of coach Hambly.
"I'm pretty elated," said the Reds' head coach. "I'm really pleased with the performance of the guys today. We were really brave and we didn't lie down. We said beforehand that we didn't want to back down from any challenge, we wanted to meet them head on.
"They have a lot of big guns in their team, players with a lot of higher league experience, and we felt if we started on the backfoot we might well have been intimidated a bit. We weren't and all credit to the boys for that."
Hambly, whose side have now won five out of five this season, admitted having former Reds player Sharp come into the home changing room before the game was "pretty special".
"He's a legend of the club," added Hambly. "He's our best player ever and I'm sure there were a few tears kicking about today. To have him come in and present the shirts was awesome. He spoke about what it meant to play for Redruth and that was pretty special. He's a guy whose played for England the British Lions, but he knows what it means to play for this club.
"All summer we have gone about our business very quietly. We have kept everything in house and done what we've wanted to do. We've made some decent signings for us, but ones which are perhaps not on the same scale as others within the division.
"We've taken people like Owen [Hambly] and Scrivs [Scrivener], players who were on the fringes last year at the All Blacks and Dave Roberts, who was relegated from South West Two with Camborne and brought them in to do a job. They have all – along with the others in the squad – bought in to what we are trying to achieve here. We are trying to improve all the time and my goal is to one day leave this club in a better state than what I found it.
"Days like today are part of that. I've had my nose rubbed in it for a long time by the All Blacks and I've had to suck it up. I think I've done it in a dignified and honest manner, but I thought today we were the better side."
But whilst Hambly celebrated, joint All Blacks' head coach Jon Hill was left to reflect on a disappointing outcome for his side. He said: "We're disappointed, of course. They are a strong side and they did well today. They played the conditions, they had a simple game plan and in the end you have to take you hat off to them.
"That said, we contributed to our downfall. There were too many errors, too much backchat and it wasn't a great day at the office. In the end our discipline has cost us, we gave away far too many penalties and we have to do better.
"At 8-0 down at half-time we would have taken because they had the advantage of the wind in the first half. We saw it as a pretty strong position to be in, but the first 15 minutes of the second half we let ourselves down. Our discipline really cost us, we gave away too many penalties and we were made to pay.
"The two tries they scored, one from a dominant scrum by ourselves and they just went blind, that was tough to take – and the second was through turnover ball and again we were exposed on the blindside.
"I thought we showed good character to fight back like we did at the end, but they have had their day today and I can assure you they won't be doing the double on us as was publicly announced. This is a knock for us, but there are still 21 league games left and a long way to go."
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