Penryn 36, Bodmin 15

Penryn maintained their unbeaten home record this season with another comfortable bonus point victory, this time against Bodmin. The game was unfortunately marred by a serious looking injury to Penryn scrum half Nathan Strick, who was taken to hospital.

The game was stopped for over half an hour before its resumption on the second team pitch. Penryn led 36-3 at that stage with 25 minutes to go but never really got going again after that. Fortunately Strick left hospital on Saturday night with the all clear.

The Borough were looking for a response following last week’s derby day disappointment and crucially had to attempt to try and keep with the pace their local rivals were setting at the top of the table. At times Penryn played some superb and flowing attacking rugby on their way to another maximum haul at the memorial ground. The Borough were after a quick start and didn’t waste any time getting themselves into Bodmin territory to apply some early pressure.

After going close on more than a couple of occasions fly half Mitchell Vague eventually squirmed his way over for the first try which Matt Horton couldn’t convert. Bodmin responded almost immediately, but that would be the last they would see of the Penryn 22 for some time. The Borough took only another 15 minutes to register the try bonus point, with some real gems along the way.

Ben Birkett finished off a powerful driving maul to get Penryn going again, with Horton extending the lead to 12-3, before Vague then added a second following good link up play between backs and forwards, which sent the fly half away. Another Horton conversion took the score even further away from the visitors. Penryn broke through again almost immediately, with Vague slicing through more would be tacklers to find centre Andrew Seviour to dot down for the bonus point. Horton again converted and it was pretty much game over after half an hour.

There was still time for another as Penryn threatened to run riot. This time Ben Trevaskis was in support from close range to score the last of Penryn’s five tries in the first half. Horton couldn’t convert but Penryn led 29-3. It looked as if it would be a long afternoon for the visitors in the sun when Seviour added his second of the game and Horton’s conversion taking Penryn out to a lead of over thirty points.

Unfortunately the game was stopped for a nasty collision which left Nathan Strick needing medical attention and a long wait for the arrival of an ambulance. This meant the game would have to be concluded on the second team pitch and understandably drastically shifted the momentum of the game. The stoppage and change of pitch did the home side no favours, as they were scoring at will on one of the biggest pitches you’ll find in the league. With a smaller pitch and players no longer in tune with the game, the contest fizzled out somewhat into a plethora of errors and penalties.

Credit must go to Bodmin though, who continued to fight hard and managed two late consolation scores to give the score line an element of respectability. Despite Penryn’s frustration it was still a case of job done with the bonus point victory and they will be glad to hear Strick is well and did not sustain any kind of lasting serious injury.

Penryn: Horton, Campbell, Hitchen, Seviour, Salisbury, Vague, Strick, Goldsworthy, Birkett, Burley, Hancock, Trevaskis, Trower, Jones (capt) Rose reps: Williams, Instance, Peacock

Tries: Vague (2) Seviour (3) Trevaskis, Birkett

Conversion: Horton (3)