Bolingey Barbarians v Perranporth, St Agnes and Newquay (PAN)
Sunday 12th December 2021
The 2021 ‘Bolingey Bowl’ fixture was blessed with fine December weather for the supporters to witness a fourteen try classic.
Bolingey Barbarians were proud to make a pre-match presentation of £2,000 to Treg Gateway Club, St Blazey. This was gratefully received by St Blazey secretary Colin Parrock and was witnessed by Chairman of Cornwall County Council, Pauline Giles.
The changing room pegs at Perranporth RFC were festooned with Christmas jumpers; a finer collection of knitwear not seen this side of The North Pole!
The first half was a high scoring affair for The Barbarians with strong running back rows Mike Laity and Dave Swiggs both scoring a brace of tries. Just before the break, fly half James Instance split the defence with a sidestep and found support runner front row Guy Taylor who powered over to touch down.
The Barbarians had to work hard though, as the combined side kept themselves in contention with two tries of their own. These both came through former Truro players; Matt Trevail and Ronnie Rowe who still have an eye for a gap and the pace to turn defenders.
Referee Danny Robbins kept the game flowing and had his work cut out as this became a ‘game of two halves’. Fresh from the bench it was Bobby Trevail who scored first with great support play after sustained pressure from a resurgent (PAN) team. Then Mike Stewart broke through a tackle in the centre field and fed winger Andy Blears who raced over to earn his side their fourth try.
Looking to equalise (PAN) kept piling on the pressure but Barbarian Tom Hindes increased the lead with a fine break to score. It became a cliffhanger when a hard charging Ross Denning broke free to score for the visitors. Reinforcements were needed. The Barbarians looked to their bench but could only find selector Lee Taylor! This proved inspirational as Taylor slotted into the right place to receive and score with his first touch.
The pendulum swung again and after some fine handling and multiple phases it was Andy Blears who received wide out and sped over the line for his second try of the match. It was a tense affair now with both teams threatening to find a scoring opportunity. Tom Hindes had the last word and peeled off a five-metre scrum to score, making him the fourth man to have a brace of tries.
At the final whistle of a most entertaining match; each side won a half and was able to enjoy veteran rugby played as always, in good spirit.
