Cornish creamed (19.02.05)

THIS enjoyable match saw the Cornish visitors start and finish on the front foot, but it was the hosts who had the overall game to win relatively comfortably.
With both teams likely to finish safely in mid-table, and both possessing a decent set of backs, this clash was always destined to be a relatively open affair.
And so it proved, although a consistently strong northerly wind and a consistently weak northern referee did their best to spoil proceedings.
The most interesting match-ups came in midfield where in-form centres Jonny Hammond and Stuart MacKay briefly showed what they are capable of (winning matches), but generally were countered by a solid Penryn defence.
Where Maids had all the advantage was in the scrum, with front rowers Allan Greene, Richie Craig and Dave Johnson taking no nonsense and no prisoners.
Against the wind in the first half, Maids tried to keep the ball in hand, but a series of handling errors kept the pressure on them.
It was no surprise when they went 7-0 down on 13 minutes after Lewis Vague had the presence of mind to make the most of an overlap. Dave Pascoe converted.
Rob Hawkins and Pascoe traded penalties, before Maids grabbed a crucial touchdown.
Following a lineout infringement, Maids took a quick tap penalty to lock Mark Mueller who blasted his way through from close range.
With Hawkins accurate with the conversion, and then spot-on with a 33rd minute penalty, Maids will have been more than satisfied with their 13-10 lead and with the wind in their favour to come.
Three minutes into the second half a Maids rolling maul rumbled over the tryline for Greene to add to his long list of touchdowns. Hawkins converted.
Just two minutes later Maids were 25-10 to the good when MacKay ran in from the halfway line, after a switch move, as the Penryn defence was still organising itself following a restart kick which failed to make the required 10 metres.
This should have set-up a Maids onslaught, but instead Penryn came back with a vengeance and enjoyed most of the momentum until the end, although could only break an experienced Maids defence on 60 minutes when Kevin Hughes scored from a quick tap penalty.
Curiously, the referee signalled Pascoe’s subsequent conversion as good, even though most on the ground could see it had missed.
He later changed his mind and called it a miss after the match. This was followed by another Pascoe miss (his third of the match) which was correctly called out despite the visiting touch judge raising his flag in the affirmative.
It provided a colourful climax to a match which was always watchable, if only for the error count of the players and officials alike.

Maidenhead are next in action at Clifton tomorrow (Saturday).

Maidenhead: Hawkins, Greer, Hammond, MacKay, Cripps, Martin, Ayres, Greene, Craig, Johnson, Booysen, Mueller, Jones, Lowden, Bryant. Subs: Nisbett (for Cripps, 49), O’Byrne (for Johnson, 65), Morgan (for Bryant, 70).
Penryn: Brown, Mann, Vague, Webster, Greville-Smith, Gregory, Pascoe, Savvas, Wells, Ongoongo, Doney, Hughes, Mann, Maynard, Short. Subs: Pallett, Burns and Giles.