THE Lions found themselves with a second successive blank weekend, so a friendly away fixture was made with Lankelly-Fowey to cover the gap, and 21 Liskeard players – consisting of youth and experience – made themselves available and travelled.

The first points came early in the game when at a scrum with a home put in, the Liskeard pack drove Lankelly off the ball and No.8 Fin Elworthy dotted down for the first try which was unconverted.

The next points came when at a Liskeard line-out deep in the home twenty-two, the ball was secured, and a catch and drive scenario was set up for hooker Archie Doidge to touch down for an unconverted try.

In the 20th minute following a tap penalty, centre Jack Badnall made ground into the Lankelly 22 where the Lions were awarded another penalty. The ball was released to the backs, where flanker Ollie Dunn was backing up he received a pass and crashed through determined defence to touch down for a try that was converted by fly-half Mike McCarthy (0-17).

On 30 minutes at a Lankelly scrum deep in their twenty-two, the Lions pack demolished Lankelly, forcing them backwards.

The home scrum-half managed to get the ball away, even with their pack going back and passed it back for a clearance kick, which was not taken and went to ground behind their try line, allowing Callum Beaver, who had replaced Jay Mason at scrum-half, to dot down for a try that was converted by McCarthy.

The final score of the half was scored close to half-time when Dunn turned over home ball and passed it to Doidge who raced in from twenty-two metres. Again it was converted by McCarthy to take the half-time score to 31-0.

It had been a good half of rugby with both sides working hard, with the home side tackling hard throughout and Liskeard trying to play open rugby.

Just after the restart a Lankelly clearance kick was gathered by replacement wing Jordan Smith, playing his first game for a couple of years.

He then cleverly found his way through stout defence to score a try that was converted by McCarthy to make the score 38-0.

Within five minutes Liskeard again turned over home ball, running it to send winger Sean Simmons in for a try, from thirty-five metres and this was converted by McCarthy to make the score 45-0.

However, with still half an hour remaining, referee Ryan Yeoman felt it prudent to curtail the game following a possible serious injury to Lankelly’s Luke Brewer. Luckily, Brewer was not seriously hurt and he managed to walk off the field.

The view from the touchline was that it had been a worthwhile fixture for both sides with Lankelly learning what they must do to strengthen their play in Counties Three Cornwall, and Liskeard with a few new additions, showing their quality, to their squad.

It means some tough decisions for the Lions coaching staff before they welcome second-placed Falmouth on Saturday (2.30pm).

No man-of-the-match was awarded to the Liskeard side, but a big shout out to veteran prop Mike Mander for strapping on his boots again.