XGirl Cup Stage 1 @ St Austell R.F.C.
Sunday 24/10/21
The opening round of Cornwall RFU’s XRugby tournament for girls saw 14 teams, 29 matches and a staggering 1922 points scored at a sunny St Austell.
With a flexible format allowing games between 5-10 players on each team, clubs have a greater ability to either compete alone, form lasting partnerships with others, or simply team up on an ad hoc basis and still score points for their clubs weighted by their number of players.
The U18s competition was dominated by Launceston, who comfortably won all three of their matches with try bonus points through dogged defence and an inexplicable defiance of gravity as they scored more points playing up the hill on Pitch 3 than they did down it! Truro Bengals drew with the Belerions – a combination of players from St Austell, Camborne, Penzance and Perranporth – and both beat Truro Siberians to take joint second place in the league table.
The U15s saw similarly imperious performances from both Bude and a joint Newquay-Perranporth team. The home team was the best of the rest, with the Angels also the only side to stop Newquay-Perranporth from gaining four tries. Camborne and a joint Truro-Penzance team showed great promise, and after a slow start against the top three sides Launceston rallied as well to come a whisker away from nicking a bonus point in their final game.
Meanwhile the U13s were racking up some incredible scores in their matches, despite the RFU-mandated friendly status of their competition. Indeed, attack as the best form of defence seemed a universal truth down on Pitch 2 with every single team bagging four tries or more in every game! Bude & Launceston won 4 out of 5 games, with only Newquay & Perranporth upsetting that run as they won 3 out of 3. Camborne, Truro, Liskeard and the joint St Austell & Penzance team all showed immense promise and attacking flair.
So with one league stage from five complete the league tables look like this:
Points% is simply the amount of points secured from those available, both based on a club’s share of players in each game, and this year is the chief metric so that clubs don’t dominate the table simply because they have more players. League points are then the secondary factor, again based on a share of players in each game.
Thanks to St Austell RFC for delivering such a successful start to the competition, with a huge amount of support in setting up and delivering the event. Thank you referees, thank you pitch admins, thank you coaches, thank you first aiders, thank you clubhouse staff and thank you parents!
Scores:
U18s
Launceston 45 Truro Siberians 5
Belerions 21 Truro Bengals 21
Launceston 40 Belerions 21
Truro Siberians 21 Truro Bengals 40
Launceston 64 Truro Bengals 14
Belerions 28 Truro Siberians 19
U15s
Camborne 7 Bude 38
Launceston 0 Newquay/Perranporth 63
Penzance/Truro 19 St Austell 45
Camborne 0 Newquay/Perranporth 56
Bude 46 Penzance/Truro 7
Launceston 7 St Austell 45
Camborne 26 Penzance/Truro 42
Bude 59 Launceston 0
Newquay/Perranporth 21 St Austell/Bude 12
Camborne 39 Launceston 15
Bude 54 St Austell/Camborne 12
Newquay/Perranporth/Camborne 40 Penzance/Truro/Camborne 17
U13s
Camborne 47 Liskeard 61
Newquay/Perranporth 42 St Austell 27
Truro 31 Bude/Launceston 33
Camborne 47 St Austell/Penzance 43
Liskeard 42 Truro 47
Newquay/Perranporth 49 Bude/Launceston 35
Camborne 49 Truro 35
Liskeard 42 Newquay/Perranporth 70
St Austell/Penzance 28 Bude/Launceston 40
Liskeard 40 Bude/Launceston 42
Camborne 28 Bude/Launceston 35
