St Austell 27, Falmouth 13

Falmouth fell to a 27-13 semi final defeat to a powerful St Austell side in a thrilling match in the Cornwall Cup, writes Joseph Macey.

Falmouth played some fantastic rugby at times and had a hold of the game for a long period.

However, it was St Austell who are a division above Falmouth and showed their class to book a place in the cup final.

Despite the defeat, chairman James Instance was happy with the team's efforts: "I think it was a fair result. I think we competed very well in the first half. We were 6-0 up until the last minute of the half and then 6-3.

"As we got a little bit more tired they started to capitalize on our mistakes and they scored three tries. We did fight back to get a try of our own but it is a bit of an eye opener of where we need to be if we are going to be competing against teams like this next season."

It took a while for the first points to be scored as both teams were so evenly matched. Falmouth opened the scoring through a penalty which was kicked by full back Tom Edmunds. 3-0.

They extended their lead when they were again given another penalty which they chose to kick. Tom Edmunds scored to extend Falmouth's lead to 6-0.

The game was tight but slowly St Austell began to find their feet in the game. They caused problems in the scrum for Falmouth and started to push them back.

After lengthy St Austell pressure they got a vital three points just before half time through a penalty from full back Cavan Boyer to make the score 6-3.

St Austell started the second half in confident mood and got an early try through forward George Knowles gave St Austell the lead to 8-6.

As the pressure was building on Falmouth the ball was overturned for Liam Freeman to chase and dive over. Kick converted by Boyer. 15-6. With 20 minutes left St Austell scored a quickfire penalty try through Knowles to stretch their advantage to 20-6 following a conversion.

The game looked out of sight for Falmouth as they kept being pegged back. However, they fought back to give themselves a lifeline with an excellent try through centre Ben Ackner. 20-13. With just under 10 minutes left this made a comeback seem a real possibility.

Sadly it wasn’t to be and St Austell scored the final try through Miles Davey to settle any nerves. Conversion by Cavan Boyer.

After the match vice-captain David Jones gave his thoughts: "Bit disappointed with the 27-13 loss. Few minutes to go when we scored a try and got within a try of getting the game back. Tough old day out there. They were big and brutal guys. Hard shift for us."

The Eagles will now switch their focus to the league again next Saturday with an away trip to Tavistock. Sandy Park, PL19 0JL.

Falmouth: Searle, Geach, Cock, Ward, Baglow, Tonkins, Brewer, Bailey, Spiller, Caruana, Lea, Ackner, Jones, Hubble, Edmonds. Subs, A Bullock, C Bullock, A Varker, S Firth, I Rowe, H Page.