PENRYN suffered another narrow defeat, this time at the hands of in-form Wadebridge in what was an encouraging if not frustrating display.

The Camels went into the game on top of the form table in Western Counties, having recovered from an early season blip to record seven consecutive bonus point wins.

Last week, Borough took their derby at Truro right down to the wire in defeat and would do so yet again on Saturday against another Cornish side.

A bright start was made by Penryn against the visitors, who boast recently released Exeter Chiefs Jack Oulton among their squad.

The home side started at a ferocious pace, with regular gain line success and a series of strong carries from the forward pack, giving the backs an excellent platform to work from.

With the hosts dominating scrums too, it was not long until the pressure finally told as Mitchell Vague crossed after an extended spell was spent by Borough on the Camels’ line.

Fly-half James Salisbury could not add the extras, but at this stage it was all Penryn.

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Scrum-half Callum Hinchley looks to move the ball out for Penryn.

Although a 5-0 lead was not to be sniffed at from the home team’s perspective, they were well aware it could have been more and would need to be to overcome the strong Wadebridge outfit.

More opportunities were spurned in what was to be a frustrating theme of the afternoon for Borough.

Even more frustratingly, would be a ten minute period in which Wadebridge took control of the game and halted Penryn’s momentum, with two converted tries putting the Camels 14-5 up.

Despite the scoreline, there was much to be positive about for Penryn and any outcome on the day seemed possible, until a pivotal moment in the game seemingly took it away from them.

As Borough prepared themselves for a clearing kick by the visitors, the Camels’ smartly put the ball through the hands and broke up the near touchline.

Excellent support and handling saw the visitors cross for a third try which knocked the stuffing out of Penryn, with insult added to injury as the touchline conversion narrowly crept over.

The Penryn response was good though and for what seemed like the rest of the game, Penryn would find themselves deep in Wadebridge territory.

But whenever Borough seemed destined to score, they coughed up possession and allowed the Camels to escape without their line being breached.

As time ticked on, Penryn gave themselves a glimmer of hope when a fine break down the touchline set up winger Josh Chambers to finish well.

Returning replacement Matt Horton slotted the tricky conversion as Penryn targeted at least a losing bonus point from the afternoons work.

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Even at 21-5 Penryn, did a fine job in producing such a hardworking and committed performance, but at 21-12 and with something to play for, things finally started to come together, with Daniel Booth, pictured above, powering over.

Horton again converted from out wide and with three minutes remaining, any kind of score would win it for Borough.

To Wadebridge’s credit and despite the host’s best attempts, the clock was run down to the full time whistle, leaving Penryn with only a losing bonus point, although at one stage even that looked unlikely.

For the first time in nearly two months, Wadebridge had been denied maximum points in what was an excellent and close fought contest.

Next up for Penryn is Tiverton at home in a rearranged fixture from January.

PENRYN: 15 Creeden, 14 Chambers, 13 Vague, 12 Seviour, 11 Willey, 10 Salisbury, 9 Hinchley; 1 Oldfield, 2 Booth, 3 Williams, 4 Ashwin, 5 Hancock, 6 Hoban, 7 Jones (c), 8 Randlesome.

REPS: James-Mills, Trevaskis, Horton.

TRIES: Vague, Chambers, Booth.

CONS: Horton 2/3.