IT was a rare off day on Saturday at home for Penryn as they slipped to a disappointing 29-3 defeat at the hands of Kingsbridge.

The visitors have often put on titanic and close fought clashes with Borough in the Western Counties West league, but on this occasion it was sadly one sided from a Penryn perspective.

Early signs had actually been quite promising for the hosts, who exerted scrum dominance as so often has been the case this season and prospering, taking a 3-0 lead courtesy of a Jake Seviour penalty.

Straight from the restart however, Penryn failed to clear their lines and the visitors took the lead in the shape of a fortuitous charge down try, with the extras added meaning Penryn somehow trailed despite all their early dominance.

Things then went from bad to worse as Kingsbridge launched a counter attack from deep.

They kept the ball alive excellently, showing great control and handling ability to score a superb try in corner.

The conversion was missed, but in two phases Penryn had gone from leading the game to trailing 12-3.

Borough were positive in their reaction, immediately trying to get themselves back into the game.

Positivity though turned into impatience as the hosts turned down kickable penalties in the quest for tries, only to let themselves down with the final pass or bad execution in key areas.

The visiting side were in a far from charitable mood and punished Borough’s errors, crossing again for another well worked converted try, led by captain Neil Elliot.

Penryn needed half time badly to regroup and recover in the hope of a second half comeback despite a mountain to climb.

The mountain got even steeper before the break though as the Kings added a penalty to leave a shell-shocked Borough 22-3 down at the interval.

The response from Penryn was good in the second period and they looked fresh, adding impetus from the bench as they began their comeback quest.

Much of the half was spent with Borough camped in Kings territory as they tried turning the heat up on the visitors.

But a combination of strong defence from the Kings and spurned Borough opportunities meant the scorers were largely untroubled in the second stanza.

It seemed whatever the home side tried, it just would not come off in a very frustrating afternoon’s rugby at the Memorial Ground.

To rub salt in the wound, the Kingsbridge eight pushed Penryn off their ball at scrum time, something which has been a rare sight this season.

Then after recycling the ball quickly, they scored their fourth try to claim a bonus point and confirm the win.

With time nearly up, even a consolation try looked unlikely for Penryn and so it proved as the visitors hoofed the ball off the pitch to end a miserable day at the office for the home side.

Penryn will look to bounce back next week, when they travel to Okehampton.

PENRYN: 15 Creeden, 14 Willey, 13 Jordan, 12 A Seviour, 11 Jowett, 10 J Seviour, 9 Hinchley; 1 Oldfield, 2 James-Mills, 3 Williams, 4 Hancock, 5 Ashwin, 6 Instance, 7 JoneS (c), Randlesome.

REPS: Beasley, Hoban, Hughes PEN: J Seviour.