A REMARKABLE three interception tries by Chinnor centre Jack Hayes denied Redruth any chance of a win in Oxfordshire on Saturday, writes Ed Bawden.

The visitors showed a lot of guts to match a big physical Chinnor side, but a lack of accuracy in their game let the reds down badly as they fell to a 33-12 defeat.

On a cold clear day, Redruth were perhaps fortunate to be only 12 points down after 25 minutes.

But with Neilson Webber playing well at scrum-half for the injured Greg Goodfellow, the Reds went into the break trailing 19-12.

Early in the second half, both Bertie Hopkin and Robin Wedlake made clean breaks in the Chinnor 22 but a lack of support and composure saw the chances come to nothing while the hosts went over in the corner after 46 minutes for the bonus point try.

Redruth were pressing for another score to get within range of a losing bonus point, but Hayes’ third interception in the closing stages left the reds with nothing to take from the game.

Chinnor almost scored in the opening minute following the sort of handling mistake that bedevilled Redruth’s game throughout.

At the scrum Redruth were able to force penalties that saw Simone Carloni yellow carded after 27 minutes.

The opening score came from a scrum in midfield when Sam Angell broke the Redruth line too easily to put flanker Ryan Long over for an unconverted try.

The hosts were dominating possession and territory but Redruth showed a lot of resilience before Hayes got his first try picking off a Hopkin pass saw him touch down near the posts for Ed Keohane to convert.

Redruth took advantage of the extra man when Luke Collins forced his way over the line after Webber had been stopped just short.

Keohane hit the post with a penalty but with the Reds trying to play their way out of trouble Hopkin had few options when Hayes picked off another forced pass to touchdown after 36 minutes with Keohane adding the conversion.

On the stroke of half time Webber made a break down the left wing and timed his pass well for Reds skipper Chris Fuca to have a comfortable run in for a try, Hopkin adding the extras.

After failing to take two chances early in the second half, Redruth were hit hard when driving play from the home forwards saw replacement prop Ricardo Cano go over for a try in the left hand corner that Keohane converted after 46 minutes.

After this, Redruth had the majority of possession but their handling in cold conditions let them down but they were in with the chance of a bonus point for a long time.

Cornwall under 20 player Tommy-Lee Southworth came on to make his Reds debut in the closing stages but they lost giant lock Collins with an ankle injury.

With time running out Redruth were attacking in midfield but Hayes picked off Webber’s pass and had too much gas for the cover defence to touchdown near the posts, Keohane converting.

REDRUTH: 15 Rule (Hosking, 67), 14 Kessell, 13 Wedlake, 12 Parsons, 11 Bowden, 10 Hopkin, 9 Webber; 1 Phillips (Southworth, 72), 2 Priddey (Brown, 65), 3 Drew (Williams, 60), 4 Collins (Priddey, 72), 5 Davey, 6 Fuca (c), 7 Hambly (Stevens, 65), 8 Marriott.

TRIES: Collins, Fuca.

CONS: Hopkin 1/2.