By Kaine Dimech at the Mayfield Sports Centre

AB SUNDECKS 1895 CUP (ROUND ONE)

Rochdale Hornets 64 Cornwall 12

EX-CORNWALL player Tommy Ashton scores four tries as the Choughs were knocked out of the 1895 Cup in Lancashire.

No less than four new debutants featured as Cornwall have continued to build their squad from the ground up following Ken Stone taking over the club.

As the game kicked off, Cornwall opened the match-up confidently, led by prop forward Harry Boots who took multiple charging carries in the first set, with little regard for his own health. But despite some very positive early signs, Rochdale were quick to fire back.

As the tide quickly turned in favour of the home side, errors began to prove costly to the somewhat disjointed Cornwall side with back-to-back tries mounting the pressure early, and they refused to take their foot off the throttle. Tries from Max Flanagan, Deane Meadows and a brace from Lameck Juma put the home side in the driver’s seat as they continued to pile on the pressure as Cornwall found themselves with a mountain to climb with just 20 minutes gone.

Despite numerous bouts of determined scramble defence, Cornwall’s discipline and error count continued to pile on leaving Rochdale in strong attacking positions that heartlands club relished.

A relentless first half from the Hornets left them going into the break at 32-0 up with further tries from Flanagan and the first of Ashton’s tries.

Despite a chance to reset throughout the break, the second half began with much of the same, with Ashton again going over in the corner after a rampaging run.

Certain try-scoring opportunities for the hosts were squandered due to heroic Cornish defending with Brad Llewellyn doing everything possible to stop the ball touching the grass. Unfortunately, sustained pressure ensued and Ashton received a slick pass for him to crash over for his third of the day, shortly followed by his fourth.

Rochdale were looking to see out the game with continued pressure building on the Cornish line, but while looking to spread the ball wide, a bright-eyed Harry Aaronson took his chance, plucking the ball out of the air on his own 20-metre line before opening the legs and cruising away from the chasing Rochdale defence. His moment of magic earned Cornwall their first points of 2025 and finally relieved some pressure from the onslaught that Rochdale’s attack had to offer.

Finally a spark ignited in the visiting side as some 50/50 efforts finally started landing on their side. Adam Rusling took full advantage as the Rochdale left-edge charged out to close off an attack, only to see Adam chip over the top as Callum Abbott cleaned up the ball and dove into the corner unchallenged.

Unfortunately, the positive period wasn’t enough to ignite a strong comeback as Rochdale weathered the storm despite being in a much greater arm wrestle than they had been hoping for.

Despite the resilience, heart and determination shown by the Choughs, the referee deemed a couple of decisions differently to what Cornwall hoped, which helped turn the tide once again in Rochdale’s favour, leading to further tries from Juma, Flanagan and Gregg McNally.

CORNWALL: Llewelyn, Symons, Trerise, Aaronson, Abbott, Lloyd, Rusling, Boots, Leney, Rhodes, Weetman, Simpson, Jenkins. Subs: Conroy, McConnell, Simpson, Cumming.

Tries: Aaronson, Abbott; Goals: Rusling (2/2).