Comfortable Win for Offbeat Sharks

With a rather erratic and disjointed display, Gordano made hard work for themselves when they travelled to St Marys who are still looking for a first victory of the season.

The game opened at speed with the home side attacking in a spirited manner and although Sharks defended well they found it difficult to co-ordinate an effective team counterattack. After 15 minutes and against the general momentum, it took two lengthy individual runs under the posts by centre Alex Walder to establish a small lead. Undismayed, Marys continued to camp in the visitors half for another 15 minutes and were unlucky not to score on two occasions, first when Ed Moss tackled on the line and again when they failed to control the ball over the line. The narrow escapes focussed Gordano and as the half closed, they began to play much better rugby with Walder being at the heart of the recovery distributing the ball for a trio of tries in 8 minutes from hooker Josh Connock, centre Josh Adams and full back Noah Holmes-Mcadam.

The improvement continued briefly after the break with two more quick tries: the first followed a high defensive clearance safely taken by Holmes-Mcadam and passed out to winger Sam Thomas who threaded his way skillfully through the home defence to score and the second was the move of the game when the ball was fed from the left touchline across the pitch for Josh Adams to score in the right corner. With the win seemingly assured, Sharks lost concentration and once again allowed Marys back into the game for a sustained period of attack over the next 20 minutes and they eventually conceded a well deserved overlap try in the corner. With the final whistle approaching, Gordano regained some shape and winger Thomas scored his second from close range after a spell of nice build up play.

Whilst this was an emphatic win for Sharks, the final scoreline flattered a patchy performance and although there were plenty of impressive individual cameos throughout the team, there was insufficient evidence of the slick combination play they are capable of. That said, "the end justifies the means" and the convincing result should give the lads great confidence for the forthcoming fixtures.

HT: 0-35

FT: 5-56

Scorers

Marys Try: Mcauley Ainsworth

Sharks Tries: Alex Walder (2), Josh Connock, Josh Adams (2), Noah Holmes-Mcadam, Sam Thomas (2)

Conv: Ed Moss (8)