Albanian pride as dogged show so nearly hats Reds
Redruth .............. 21pts Old Albanian .... 12pts
REDRUTH were given a tough test by a dogged Old Albanian side, who conceded their lead only 13 minutes from time.
Director of Rugby Nigel Hambly was pleased with the win but frustrated with the performance.
“It was a bit messy today, I felt we could have been more clinical at times, but fair play to Old Albanian. They defended very well and made life difficult for us,” he said. “I was disappointed some of our lads didn’t seem to take command at times, leaving it to someone else to make a decision.
“These are things we can work on.”
With Storm Jorge gusting throughout, kicking was a lottery for both sides, but thankfully the heavy rain held off.
Albanian made a hash of the kick-off, gifting Redruth a scrum in their 22, which the Cornishmen should have made more of. Albanian then compounded their mistake with a high tackle that gifted Fraser Honey the opening points with his well-struck penalty.
Having made a good start, Redruth then found themselves down to 14 men as prop Tommy Phillips was sin-binned .
Albanian took fulladvantage, kicking to the corner to set up a powerful maul, with winger Ned Warne getting among the forwards to claim the unconverted try.
The Reds looked to get back into the game with some big carries from
Paddy Ryan and locks Todd Prisk and Ed Pascoe.
Honey kicked a penalty towards the corner, to set up a catch-and-drive for Redruth. While the initial surge was stemmed, Albanian conceded a penalty which enabled Jack Oulton to go for a quick tap. The scrum-half made good ground before Honey flicked the ball to Connor Gilbert, who beat the cover to score in the corner.
Having already put in some big tackles in midfield, centre Jack Simmons again proved a saviour as
Albanian made a break from their own 22. His cover tackle some ten metres from his own line raised a huge cheer.
The Albanian pack struck before half-time following a kick to the corner from Roddy Giles. The maul powered towards the Redruth line, with prop Zaki Chamnaoui credited with the try under a pile of bodies, Morgan Thompson added the extras for a 12-8 lead at half-time.
Redruth made a good start to the second half with Honey kicking a second penalty from 25 metres out. For much of the half, the defences held sway, but the pivotal moment came when Redruth piled on the pressure from a fivemetre scrum, shoving the Old Albanian pack back before they infringed.
The referee had no hesitation in awarding the penalty try.
A third Honey penalty seven minutes from time sealed the hard-fought win.
Albanian head coach James Buckland said: “I think we can take much from today’s performance.”