IN cool calm conditions, a controlled 15 man display saw Redruth defeat Old Elthamians on their first visit to the Rec, writes Roger Watson.

“Comfortable” was how Reds’ head coach Steve Larkins summed up the third consecutive home league win, with his side scoring three tries to Old Elts’ one.

Larkins was satisfied with the way his team had performed.

“We knew Old Elthamians would come down and throw everything at us but our defence looked good keeping them out for seventy minutes,” he said.

“We dominated up front and our attack looked sharp.

“Rhodri McAtee’s try was the pick of the day and epitomised what we are all about.”

In a match which started at a high tempo, the visitors showed that they had come to play attacking rugby and took an early lead from a well struck Tom White penalty.

The Reds struck back with a perfectly executed training field move when number eight Kyle Marriot took the ball from the base of the scrum to set Greg Goodfellow off on a sniping run to touch down in the score board corner.

Murray Westren added the extras with a touch line conversion.

A fine break from his own twenty-two saw Nielson Webber go some 70 metres looking set to score, but unfortunately the potential try scoring pass went astray preventing the Reds from extending their lead.

Old Elts in attack showed great patience as they went through a dozen phases which stretched the Reds’ defence before conceding a penalty enabling the home side to clear their lines.

However the only other score of the half was a Westren penalty from in front of the posts.

After the break, despite Old Elts looking lively outside the scrum, the Reds’ pack showed their strength when, following a penalty, Ben Priddey was driven over from a lineout to score in Piggy Lane corner.

The win was sealed with a superb try when live wire scrum-half Goodfellow, who pulled the strings behind a dominant pack all afternoon, characteristically broke through the defence with one of his trademark runs.

Replacement prop Jess Tompsett linked brilliantly, gathering a tricky ball, to send Rhodri McAtee in for a try converted by Westren.

The final score went to visitors when left wing Renford Bennett cut a good line infield to link with his centres for a try converted by White.

Redruth pressed hard for the fourth try and a bonus point as referee Mike Hudson who, like Old Elts, was also making his appearance at the Rec had a busy afternoon awarding 24 penalties and issuing two yellow cards, brought the game to an end.

Next Saturday sees the Reds on the road again as they make the 650 mile round trip to meet Canterbury, who will be confident after this week’s good away win at Bishop’s Stortford.

When the sides met earlier in the season on October 11, Redruth ran in six tries as they won 39-15.

REDRUTH: 15 Westren (Kessell 67), 14 Vinnicombe, 13 Webber, 12 Parsons (c), 11 Wedlake, 10 McAtee, 9 Goodfellow (Hosking 65); 1 Phillips, 2 Brown, 3 Drew (Tompsett 57), 4 Cook, 5 Collins (Prisk 44), 6 Priddey, 7 Hambly, 8 Marriot (Stevens 65).

TRIES: Goodfello (12), Priddey (56), McAtee (63).

CONS: Westren 2/3.

PEN: Westren.

SIN-BIN: Hambly (75).