Scottish started the match brightly, hooker Stuart Silvester going close to scoring the opening try but unable to ground the ball and on nine minutes full back Frankie Neale opened the home side’s account with a penalty. The Cornish side responded with two penalties of their own, both converted by fly half Tony Yapp, putting them 6-3 ahead midway through the first half, but that was as good as it got for the visitors as Scottish went on the attack.

After 34 minutes, the hosts were 22-6 ahead following tries from centre Ian McInroy, prop Andy Fahey and winger Charlie Broughton, the first two converted by Neale. The full back initiated McInroy’s try with a run down the wing, skipper Gary Trueman making the final pass, while Fahey touched down after a drive from the Scottish pack following a lineout.
Broughton’s score, meanwhile, resulted from him gathering his own chip over the visitors’ defence to touch down following a move that started with a quick tap penalty by scrumhalf Simon Amor.

Before the break, Launceston responded with a try of their own through Lewis Paterson, on as a replacement, which Yapp converted, but despite a solid start to the second half, that was their final score of the afternoon. Neale added two penalties after the interval to extend the Scottish lead to 28-13, and Launceston found themselves reduced to 14 men after centre Ed Lewsey was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle on Scottish flanker Ben Lonnergan.

With their numerical superiority, it wasn’t long before Scottish added their fourth try of the game through number 8 Willie Lipp to claim the bonus point, Neale again adding the conversion. The full back subsequently took his afternoon’s haul to 18 points after putting another successful kick over following a try from replacement Rory Damant, making the final score 42-13.

Head coach Brett Taylor said that he was “really happy” that the side had got back to winning ways, adding that “it’s very pleasing when the points you work on in training are transferred to the weekend”.

Next week sees Scottish visit neighbours Esher, who yesterday beat Redruth 23-17, overcoming a second-half fightback from the Cornish team to maintain their winning start to the season and remain top of the table ahead of unbeaten Wharfedale by virtue of having secured two bonus points.

Taylor acknowledged that “Esher are the form side, they’ve won three out of three, rightly so, and we’re going to have to be at our very best to compete on that day, but the all boys are certainly looking forward to it”.

Scottish had been originally drawn to meet Esher, then playing two leagues higher up, in the EDF National Trophy earlier this year but the Surrey club, whose chairman of rugby is BBC presenter John Inverdale, were disqualified after fielding an ineligible player.

And with Saturday’s match providing one of two local derbies this season – the other local side in National League 1 being Blackheath – Taylor believes that the fans can help encourage the side to victory and hopes for a strong turnout next week.
“It would be great, the support today was absolutely fantastic, the team fully appreciated it, and it would be great to see them down at Esher cheering the boys on and hopefully helping the team perform the same way they did today”.