Duncan at the double as Reds make hard work of beating Bournemouth
at the Recreation Ground
Redruth made it three wins from three games played with a workmanlike display over plucky visitors Bournemouth.
Although happy with the win, Redruth's forwards coach Ashley Morcom was not too pleased with the overall performance from his side. He said. "I was hoping to see more from our forwards today, upfront we were very dominant during the first quarter then we seemed to take our foot of the pedal which made it hard to get any forward momentum."
Redruth looked to have engineered scoring chances, especially during the first half, but time and again the visitors appeared to get a body under the ball to hold the Reds up over the line. "It's frustrating, but the referee calls it as he sees it, some days the we get the rub of the green but today it seems that on quite a few occasions we didn't have lady luck smile on us," he said.
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Redruth's cause was not helped by disruptions during the game, with both lock Luke Collins and skipper Chris Fuca spending time in the sin-bin. With lock Damien Cook and scrum-half Greg Goodfellow both ruled out with injury before the game, the injury list lengthened with Collins going off near the end with a heavy knock to the ribs, while centre Romy Vassell had to helped from the field.
Morcom was still awaiting confirmation of the injuries. "It looks like Vassell has got a knee problem, while Collins could have broken or popped a rib, we will have to wait on scans before knowing the full picture. Already next week we will be missing Owen Hambly and Darren Jacques due to holidays and other commitments so a few others will get their chance," he said.
After a slow start the Reds finally got into the game with a well-struck penalty from Paul Thirlby. The Redruth forwards gradually got the measure of the Bournemouth pack, following a series of scrums near the visitor's line the Reds got their opening try as No.8 Tom Duncan powered over.
Thirlby kicked a fine conversion in difficult conditions to extend the lead to 10-0.
The Redruth forwards caught the eye with ball in hand with notably Darren Jacques and Luke Collins putting in some big drives.
After 27 minutes Redruth increased their lead with Duncan once again crossing the whitewash from a five-metre scrum. As half-time beckoned Redruth suffered a double blow. Collins was dispatched to the sin-bin for a professional foul, then Bournemouth got their opening score as No.8 Gavin Hart drove over from a catch-and-drive.
The second half did not begin too brightly for the Reds either. While pressing in the Bournemouth half, a stray pass was snaffled by the visitor's winger Rory Trow who sped to the try-line.
Despite possession and plenty of pressure the Reds just could not find a way through the well-marshalled Bournemouth defence. Vassell, Sam Parsons and Craig Bonds all looked for the chink in the armour to no avail. Thirlby did manage to stretch the Reds' advantage with a second penalty kick on 65 minutes.
Bournemouth sensed they had a chance as the game neared the end. Dean Bonds had to be quick to deny the visitors as they fly-hacked the ball towards the try-line.
Fuca's yellow card and penalty offence gave Bournemouth the chance to sneak a losing bonus point with the final kick of the match, fly-half Ben Stevenson who had missed with his previous kicks at goal this time got it right, giving the south coast side some reward from their trip to Hellfire Corner.
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