Rugby Football Union
Congratulations to our Captain of the Cornwall RFU Under 18’s, Lewis Crannis on his selection into the South West Team.
Lewis is a also a player at Perranporth Rugby Club.
We wish him safe travels to the University of Warwick for training sessions leading to game day against London SE. All the very best Lewis.
South West Tournament (Game 2 of 3)
Hartpury College – 07/12/25
Game two of the SW tournament gave the boys a slight lie in as the later 14:00 kick off, gave a mid-morning 08:00 start to travel back to Hartpury to face Dorset & Wilts.
For the game the rain finally stopped, which left just a strong wind to contend with. From kick-off we were slow to get going and again conceded a quick try before we had really touched the ball. We soon got a foot hold in the game, showing some good hands with both forwards and backs breaking the line, and with a little pressure we scored to level the game.
For the rest of the game, we were never really able to keep the pressure on for long periods to fully show what we could do with the ball, as our control was too often lost with simple mistakes and miscalculations. We were not at the standard of our 1st game, but in flashes we showed some great skills, fast feet and dominant tackling. You could also not question the commitment and work rate of the boys. We just know we can play better.
In the end it was an entertaining close game, where a few tries were traded, and we finished with a close win.
Final Score : 15 – 10
Team : J. Horner, H. Gay, A.Smith, C. Frisby, L Crannis (Capt), O. Heyes, H. Bennetts, M Abbott, D. Taylor, K.Lewis, M. Wilson, E.Richards, J. Tribe, D. Webster, B. Green, E. Evans, N. Willams, B. Nicholas, F. Bulley, S. Lee-Hirst, T. Heartford
Tries –Webster, Abbott, Heyes
Coaches : P Bostock, D Pritchard, P Holman, A Lawton, M Pollard, L Bostock
PHICIS : R Bartlett
Last U18 game will be against Devon at Truro RFC on Sunday 21st Dec, 14:00 KO.
Congratulations to our Under 18s who defeated Oxfordshire Under 18s, 30-25 yesterday at Hartpury.
Report from Team Manager Paul Howard.
Cornwall U18 v Oxfordshire U18
South West Tournament (Game 1 of 3) Hartpury College – 23/11/25
This year’s campaign kicked off on Sunday with our 1 st game v Oxfordshire at Hartpury
college. This meant an early start with us leaving home just after 06:00 for our bus trip up the
M5 for a 12:00 KO.
It would be fair to say after the long trip (and some of our more interesting training sessions),
there was a little nervousness in the camp. However, after a slow start, conceding an early
try, we soon found our feet. As the work rate lifted, we started to show some fierce tackling
and great hands, allowing us to create gaps and punching holes in the Oxfordshire defence.
The forwards were getting over the gain line, and the back line were exploring opportunities
as a unit, leading us to large slices of possession, and showing off some high-class finishing.
This dominance around the park, lead us to going into half time 4 tries to 2 up.
The 2nd half started well, where the bench was emptied and started positively keeping the
momentum, ending in a good team try. However, with some unforced errors and some untidy defence on penalties, we gave away two soft tries. This led to a tight finish where we traded tries as we looked to gain the initiative again. On the final whistle, there was a sigh of relief from the spectators on a back-and-forth finish, where we just kept in front with the score 6 tries to 5.
Final Score : 30 – 25
Our next game is again at Hartpury on the 7 th Dec, before our final game at Truro RFC v
Devon on the 21 st Dec.
Team : A. Smith, H. Gay, J. Crapp, C. Frisby, O. Heyes, H. Bennetts, O. Goodwin, L.
Crannis (Capt), D. Taylor, D. Davies, M. Wilson, K. Lewis, J. Tribe, J. Andrew, B. Green, E.
Evans, J. Horner, N. Willams, C. Grenfell, B. Nicholas, F. Bulley, D. Webster, E. Richards, M.
Abbott
Tries – Wilson, Taylor, Gay, Bennetts, Lewis, Webster
Also, a special mention to our PHICIS team, Ronnie who was with us today, and Donna who
was with us in our warmup games. Thank you for looking after the boys, as I am not sure if
we have ever had a team that needed more strapping!
Coaches : P Bostock, D Pritchard, P Holman, A Lawton, M Pollard, L Bostock
Good luck to all the squad for this Sunday’s game.
Cornwall U18 South West Tournament Round Up
Paul Howard, Team Manager
The U18 season for Cornwall is now complete. We had three very enjoyable games at Hartpury, but overall we have to look back and know we didn’t play to our full potential for long enough periods over the games. When it clicked in the 2nd half of the first game, 1st half on the 2nd game and patches of the 3rd game, we were the best side on display over all the counties, but at other times we may have been considered one of the worst. We scored some great team tries, were dogged when defending our own line, showed some real power in the scrums and were clinical in the line-out. There were plenty of positives for all the players to take from playing for Cornwall.
Thank you to all the boys and parents for their commitment to train and travel.
After our last game the SW selectors shortlisted players to move forward to SW trials at the end of Jan. Although we would have liked more, well done to the five below who were selected:
Archie Beetles
Ola Phillips
Oli Wells
Joe Horne
Will Geddes-Brown
Best of luck for the next stage.
Results
Game 1 v Dorset & Wilts
Final score 20-15
Try Scorers : Lewis, Murray, Bennett, Holland
Game 2 v Oxfordshire
Final score 20-25
Try Scorers : Dawson, Wells, Lewis, Jago
Game 3 v Somerset
Final score 20-20
Try Scorers : Collins, Holland, Penalty Try, Fletcher
Playing Squad: Archie Beetles, Ola Phillips, Leon Holland, Max Walker, Toby Collins, Dan Davey, Joe Horne, Oli Wells, Matt Walker, Pax McDowell, Will Pellow, Jake Shirlow, Will Geddes-Brown, Ben Dawson, Pete Fletcher, Jake Walker, Alfie Middlewood, Jacob Bennetts, Max Bennett, Jowan Kerry, Ethan Taylor, Tristan Jago, Jack Old, Cohan Wallace, Oshi Baker, Ewan Murray, Barney Lewis.
Cornwall Under 18s play their Somerset counterparts this Sunday at Hartpury in their final South West county match.
Good luck to the team and best wishes for SW trials selection.
Cornwall U18 v Dorset & Wilts U18
Report by Paul Howard Team Manager
Sunday was our first game in this year’s U18 SW tournament. Drawn against Dorset & Wilts, we made the long trip to Hartpury College expecting a tough game, after losing to the same side as U17’s earlier in the year.
Cornwall were very slow to get going and for the first 15mins they struggled to get out of their own half, losing the ball in contact or exit poorly. On the positive side, the scrum was dominant, the boys put their bodies on the line and defended heroically holding the ball up over the line 3 times. However, Dorset & Wilts managed to cross the whitewash for 2 well deserved tries.
With the vocal travelling crowd fearing the worst, Cornwall’s nerves settled. The ball handling and decision making improved, and they started to play themselves back into the game. Now on the front foot and in the opposition half, they applied pressure to the opposition defence with the forwards continuing to dominate at scrum time and backs stating to interchange with fluidity, leading to our first try just before half time.
In the 2nd half, the players confidence grew, and Cornwall had Dorset & Wilts constantly under pressure, with destructive carries from the forwards and the backs slicing through the gain line regularly. Having had the majority of possession, they also found the cutting edge with some defence splitting passes allowing Cornwall to score three more team tries, after strong build up play.
Dorset & Wilts came back with thrilling try right on the final whistle by which time it was too late, and the Cornish contingent celebrated the win with gusto all the way back to the Duchy.
Final score 20-15
Team : Archie Beetles (Capt), Max Walker, Toby Collins, Joe Horne, Oli Wells, Will Pellow, Jake Shirlow, Will Geddes-Brown, Jake Walker, Jacob Bennetts, Max Bennett, Jowan Kerry, Ethan Taylor, Jack Old, Barney Lewis, Leon Holland, Ola Phillips, Peter Fletcher, Tristan Jago, Alfie Middlewood, Cohan Wallace, Ewan Murray, Matt Wright
Try Scorers : Lewis, Murray, Bennett, Holland
Our next game is on the 15th Dec @ Hartpury v Berkshire. 14:00 KO.
Cornwall Under 18s play their opening fixture in this season’s County Championship when they face Dorset & Wilts this Sunday at Hartpury College.
We wish the team the very best for this season’s campaign.
UPDATE – Cornwall Under 18’s win 20 – 15, congratulations guys.
Congratulations to all the girls selected for this season’s Under 18’s squad. You have all come through a tough selection process. To those girls who didn’t make it, commiserations, along with best wishes on your rugby journey.
The squad can now look forward to their programme of matches against Devon, Gloucestershire and Somerset.
Cornwall Under 18 Boys travelled to Bristol to play a couple of matches today.
The results;
Cornwall U.18, 28 – 12 Gloucestershire U.18
Cornwall U.18. 15 – 10 Somerset U.18
Congratulations to the lads.
Cornwall have named the above side to play Devon U.18 at Ivybridge this Sunday.
This is the inaugural game for the MAKO cup sponsored by Kitworld, which we hope to make into a yearly fixture.
KO 15:00 at Ivybridge RFC.
Good luck to the Black & Golds.
