Trowbridge 33 Launceston 28

Trowbridge hold on despite late comeback for Cornish visitors

The fortieth league season brought these two clubs together for the first time in the league although Trowbridge veterans will remember a tour visiting the Cornish All Blacks in the 1990s. This was the Wiltshire side’s opening match in Regional 1 after their first ever promotion to level 5 of the league structure.

Trowbridge’s started with great purpose and took the lead in the 3rd minute when second row Ollie Bilton forced his way across the whitewash after several phases. The try was converted by the ever reliable boot of Tom Weaver and with further tries from flanker Kyle Oakley after 17 minutes and centre Alex Murchison after 25 minutes the sides intention in this new challenging league were there for all to see. Weaver kicked the extras and Trowbridge were comfortably ahead after wing Oakley Milton finished off another move on the half hour to gain a try bonus point. The score was 26-0 to the hosts and the Cornish side had only threatened the Trowbridge 22 on two brief occasions, where in both cases, possession was lost and the ball was cleared.

To their credit, Launceston were a different side after the interval, and the Trowbridge defence were stretched to resist their efforts during this period. The pressure grew and this was inevitable from a side experienced at this level. After 14 minutes Launceston wing Sheldon Higgins sped over in the corner for a try converted by fly half James Tucker. The pressure increased and this resulted in tries from flanker George Harris and prop Mitchell Hawken, both converted by Tucker and the score was back to 26-21. Trowbridge had been struggling but they then made their first serious attacks since the first half. The visitors defence held until man of the match Oakley dived over to extend Trowbridge’s lead to 12 points with 10 minutes remaining. For the remainder of the match Launceston dominated possession and reduced the deficit with a score from replacement forward Devon Murray with five minutes remaining. Tucker made all of the conversions. In the final minutes an attack by the visitors that went the length of the pitch ended with a cross field kick that bounced close to the Trowbridge line but was missed by the players following up and went into touch by the goal line. The line out was won by the Trowbridge forwards and the ball was cleared to half way. The ball ended in touch and the referee blew the final whistle. Trowbridge held out following the line out and Trowbridge completed a 33-28 victory in a match that could have gone either way. Trowbridge move on to their first match at Lydney and Launceston host one of the favourites Brixham next week.