RICHIE KEVERN’S THOUGHTS POST MATCH
By Bill Hooper, at the Recreation Ground, Camborne
It turned out to be a very satisfying weekend for Cornwall Under 20 Coach Richie Kevern, not only did he score Redruth’s opening try in their National League 2 South win against Hinckley on Saturday, he oversaw, along with fellow coach Tyler Gendall, the Under 20’s dramatic win against old foes Devon 25-24 in the opening Jason Leonard Cup pool game.
After the game at Camborne on Sunday, Richie had a big smile on his face. “That was a tight one. At half-time we realised we needed to get back to the basics, keep the ball in-hand, use our forwards and look to make Devon force the errors, fair play they got their rewards.
Richie was full of praise for the pack. I thought our forwards carried well, both locks Pat Walton and Toby Osborne, whilst in the back row Freddie Trewin put in a lot of work and was a real menace at the breakdown. Both props skipper Ethan Pearce-Cowley and Declan Prowse made a lot of meters.
Richie was also full of admiration for the performance of fly-half Joe McCarthy, “I thought he had a stand out game, his kicking from hand, passing and breaks really put us on the front foot. Also our full-back Harry Larkins had a great game creating something from nothing, a beautifully balanced runner with a step to die for. I think that final flourish at the end summed the confidence the lad has, he really enjoys his rugby.
“Playing an expansive game is our goal, we tried some good things today, it didn’t always come off, but with just one warm-up game under our belts I think next time out we will be that much better from the experience of today. You learn only so much on the training pitch, it’s by playing the game that you truly learn to better yourself.
Richie’s thoughts now turn to their second game against Dorset & Wilts. “The lads will have learned a lot from today, we will fine tune some aspects and look to build on this result next time out.”
