A BATTLE was had by Penryn’s Under 13s over the holidays as they fought hard to beat Wadebridge 24-22.

The visitors came to the Memorial Ground with a reduced squad due to having players either ill or away and the hosts provided three players to them.

First blood was drawn by Penryn when after receiving the kick-off, they strung together good mauls, quick ball around the backs and rucks to set up Dan Price to dot down, with Sam Hammersley converting.

With conditions on the tricky side due to the recent weather, the game was a scrappy affair with both sides knocking-on several times and making a mess at the breakdown.

A strong breeze swept across the ground which caused problems to each sides’ kicking game, something both turned too more than they should have.

Although the half got scrappier, there were some promising moments to talk about with Penryn getting the lion’s share of them with forwards Archie Bawden and Finlay McGougan putting in fine displays, while Hammersley and Sam Ahearne looked in good touch among the backs.

It was the latter who added another five points to the host’s score before half time when Jonah Frost and Jack Valentine retained the ball well before offloading to Ahearne, who soon had his game finished unfortunately with a knee injury.

Wadebridge used the numerical advantage they had for the remainder of the half to grab a try of their own which was converted, despite hitting the crossbar twice.

They would also go down to 14 men for the second period due to an injury and early on after the interval, Sam Price was set up for the first of two tries.

The conversion was missed and with the score at 17-7, Wadebridge sensed they were still in with a shout and quickly got their second try of the day two minutes later.

A missed conversion saw the gap at five points which became 12 when Price completed his brace with a good cut inside to score near the posts, simplifying Hammersley’s kick for the extra two.

Wadebridge did not give up though and pushed Penryn right to the end, scoring two tries to make the finish a nail-biter.

However, both were not converted and Borough held out to pull off the victory.

PENRYN SQUAD: Levick, J Truen, H Truen, McGougan, Chambers, Valentine, Ahearne, Hammersley, Ozer, Burt, Wagland, Callaghan, Richards, Fox, Bray, Bawden, Durrante, Kingsbury, Hill, S Price, D Price, Grey, Frost, Pyatt.

TRIES: D Price, Ahearne, S Price (2).

CONS: Hammersley 2/4.