REDRUTH showed a lot of pride in the red shirt holding the unbeaten league leaders to two tries on the banks of the River Thames despite being handicapped by three yellow cards, writes Ed Bawden.

On a damp day, the visitors were on the defensive for most of the game but never took a back foot in combating Henley’s direct approach play.

It was clear why the hosts are at the top of the league with the way they protected the ball in the loose and forced the reds into conceding 15 penalties.

They gave Redruth a tough time at the scrums but the Redruth front row Tommy Phillips, Richard Brown and Craig Williams all put in a big shift in open play.

Redruth kicked off but were soon on the defensive with Henley missing an early chance when the put the ball down in the reds 22.

An offence at the breakdown saw James Comben put the hosts in front with a penalty after 14 minutes.

Most of the possession was going to Henley which forced Redruth to concede penalties before referee Paul Kimber brought out the yellow card after Tom Simmons came in at the side of a ruck after 25 minutes.

Henley seized the advantage immediately kicking to the corner before a series of driving mauls ended with the referee awarding a penalty try after a maul collapsed near the line.

Interplay involving Bertie Hopkin and Ben Priddey was Redruth’s best attack of the half before the former, who is on loan from the Cornish Pirates, stroked over a penalty from near the halfway line as the Reds went into the break trailing by seven points.

The same pattern continues after the interval with Redruth showing a lot of courage to combat Henley’s physical approach.

But another series of driving mauls ended with Dave Manning being awarded a try converted by Comben after 48 minutes.

Another loan player from the Pirates, Charlie Davey, came on to make his debut in the second row as Redruth continued to play with a dogged resolve.

Neilson Webber picked up a yellow card for an illegal tackle but the Reds kept their resolve under pressure.

Greg Goodfellow was the Reds best attacking threat all afternoon and one superb break should have led to a try, but Hopkin was stopped on the line.

The Scottish scrum-half ended the game in the sin-bin for an off the ball push.

Henley were looking to get the bonus point but a tremendous flying tackle by Jack Kessell saved a try in the corner.

REDRUTH: 15 Rule (Kessell, 64, Wedlake, 78), 14 Wedlake (Westren, 70), 13 Webber, 12 Parsons (c), 11 Bowden, 10 Hopkin, 9 Goodfellow; 1 Phillips, 2 Brown, 3 Williams (Drew, 58), 4 Prisk (Davey, 45), 5 Collins, 6 Simmons (Stevens, 45), 7 Priddey, 8 Marriott.

PEN: Hopkin.

SIN-BIN: Simmons, Webber, Goodfellow.