Churcher’s delight as Nonu’s try seals win
REDRUTH head coach Marek Churcher hailed his side’s resilience after they weathered an early storm before unleashing their own upon the visitors to run out deserved winners.
Costly first-half yellow cards didn’t do the visitors’ cause any good as on each occasion Redruth profited with a converted try.
The win and performance pleased Churcher who felt his side had carried on from last week’s victory at Clifton.
He said: “I think we put them under a lot of pressure and we didn’t allow ourselves to get dragged down into a dogfight.
“Credit to our forwards – our set-piece worked well, especially in the lineout from which we scored our three tries.
“We did have to defend for long periods and I think we coped well, especially in the second half. Getting that third try was crucial when you have a big unit like Pale Nonu coming on in the centre – it’s like an extra forward.”
Bishop’s Stortford began the game strongly, dominating territory and possession, and took an early lead thanks to a Tom Banks penalty.
When Redruth finally got into the 22 and exerted some pressure, Mark McCraith was yellowcarded, allowing Angus Taylor to level the scores.
The Reds then took the lead as Kyle Marriott finished off a strong drive from the forwards with Taylor adding the extras.
Joel Matavesi made a good break before being hit late by Johnny Neville, which saw the centre depart to the bin just as McCraith returned to the fray.
From the catch-anddrive Redruth’s pack stormed the line with BJ
Chapman driven over for their second try and Taylor adding the extras.
Good pressure from Bishop’s Stortford saw them pull a try back from their own driving maul with Declan Caulfield claiming the try.
The next score would prove crucial and it went to Redruth as they made the most of limited second half territory for Nonu to be driven over under the posts by the forwards, allowing Taylor a simple conversion.
Matt Tomlinson got a second unconverted try for the visitors but that was as good as it got.
Bishop’s Stortford’s head coach Andy Long couldn’t conceal his disappointment at seeing his side lose their way.
He said: “These games are won or lost with small margins. I think we lost that game in the first half, conceding a couple of tries when we were down to 14 men. That was frustrating.
“I felt we played smarter in the second period but we had given ourselves too much to do especially as the conditions deteriorated.
“I thought we could have got more from the officials in the red zone, but in the end we have to say we weren’t good enough on the day.”