Filton keep their play-off hopes alive with win

FILTON boss George Tavner praised his sides' character and fighting spirit following their victory over Truro College at the WISE Campus.

Going into to the fixture, the head coach described this as a game that Filton simply had to win if they wanted to keep their season alive, and stressed to his team that anything other than a bonus-point victory would spell the end of their AASE Championship campaign.

And his side duly responded with battling five-tries to three triumph in the presence of England Under-18s head coach Peter Walton.

Tavner said: "That was a real backs-to-the-wall performance, and I'm proud of the way we fronted up against a much bigger side.

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"We did have a few lapses in concentration in defence, and we fell off a few tackles, and that allowed them to stay in contention.

"But our attacking play was very encouraging, and we looked capable of hurting them when we went through the phases and started playing with tempo.

"We were defending with 13 men at one point in the first half, but we only leaked one try during that period, and crucially, managed to score a try of our own to cancel their's out.

"We're still in this competition thanks to this win, but from now on, every game is going to be like a cup final."

Filton started with real purpose and took the game to the Cornishmen, with Under-18s England centre Nick Carpenter and wing James Floyd prominent in a dynamic opening salvo.

Fly-half Jack Skelton opened the scoring with a penalty after six-minutes, after his side had set up camp in the Truro half.

But the visitors responded to take the lead with prop Danny Charles barrelling over for a try, converted by stand-off Peter James after 13-minutes.

Filton skipper Monty Reed, who was at the heart of his side's forward effort, pulled an unconverted try back, following a typical barnstorming charge, to restore Filton's advantage.

But the home side were hit with a double whammy when first wing Flloyd, and then Carpenter, were shown yellow cards for technical infringements.

The visitors took full advantage of their numerical advantage, with an unconverted try from centre Damien Travis, to make it 12-8.

But Filton bounced back, when flanker Callum Wallace brushed off several would-be tacklers to crash over close to the uprights, allowing Skelton the easiest of conversions to edge the home side into a 15-12 interval lead. The home side began to take control after the break, with centre Lucas Slowik becoming more involved in attack, while hooker Ryan Roach and flanker Jake Polledri put on a defensive masterclass.

And the home side also benefited by having the games outstanding player in scrum-half Andy Uren, who constantly asked questions of Truro around the fringes, and marshalled his pack with authority.

But Truro nipped in to re-take the lead, against the run of play with a converted try, before the Bristol side showed their true mettle to score 19 unanswered points in the final quarter.

First full-back Jack Hughes plunged over in the corner for a try converted by Skelton, before Uren picked up from a ruck 30-metres out, and set off on a mazy run to the try line for an unconverted score. Skelton had the final word when he won the race to a kick ahead for a try that he also converted.