Camborne 17 - 41 Taunton RFC

Taunton registered their first away win of the season despite the team showing eight changes from the previous Saturday's cup match against Barnstaple.

Although not at their very best, they were always in command; the pack laid the foundations in all departments and fly half Jon Martin orchestrated the play.

They almost made the try line in the 9th minute with a lineout drive and Camborne were forced to touch down a Martin grubber. The resultant drop out was snapped up by right wing Ben Rudkin who sprinted into the corner. Martin slotted the kick, the first of five conversions.

Full back Joe Parma responded with a soaring penalty but another lineout drive sparked a slick bout of passing with Rudkin finishing the move.

Camborne then shocked the visitors with a series of pick and drives until prop Scott Macdonald burrowed over. Parma converted.

Taunton still held all the aces and this time the lineout drive went the distance and flanker Danny Thomas dropped over for the try. Martin added a penalty to close the half at 10-24.

Soon after the restart, their dominant young front row took Taunton's second strike against the head, centre Ben Hunt banged a huge kick downfield and full back Hamish Reeves scored under the posts.

Camborne refused to lie down and constant pressure on the away try line produced a score for centre Rob Ley, Parma adding the extras.

Rudkin completed a hat trick of tries after a Camborne chip ahead fell into the wrong hands and, to end the scoring, Martin coolly slotted his second penalty - 100% success rate with 7 from 7.

The match referee was Laurie Prideaux who lives in Camborne. He was one of the top referees in his youth and is still up to the job despite his advancing years and for anybody seeking a mystery trip runs a business called Pixie Tours.

South Africa beat England in the World Cup final in Paris by 5 kicks to 2. "Up and unders" were the order of the day, defences ruled and the Springboks' dominance of the lineout probably won them the match. My final prediction was wrong (sorry!) but I still collected on the each-way part of my modest 33-1 bet.

On the betting front, Taunton's South African skipper and ace lineout man, Pieter Tosen, gave director of coaching, Lee Waddon, England and 15 points start so he had to shell out a bag of rand on Saturday night!

Bill Luckett