PENRYN narrowly lost their Cornwall Cup semi-final to St Austell by two points on Saturday afternoon, writes Sam Moore.

The game ended 22-20 after Borough’s Matt Horton missed a last-minute penalty which would have won them the game, meaning the Saints will go on to play reigning champions Camborne in the final.

First half scores from Dan Pearce and Dan Johns along with a penalty kick from Andy Ashwin, gave the Saints a flying start, with Borough’s only scores of the opening 40 minutes coming from a pair of Martin Strick penalties.

The home side, who struggled to defend against a quick back line and strong pack throughout the game, did find their legs though in the second half, ushering a climactic finish with two tries from Andrew Seviour and captain George Jones.

Ultimately they could not finish the job off, but Penryn’s assistant head coach Marek Churcher stayed positive in the face of defeat.

Churcher said: “Full credit to the boys to push a team that are a league above them that far.

“They did a great job.”

An early first half penalty from Ashwin and a jinxing run to the line from full-back Pearce put the Saints up 8-0 in the first ten minutes.

Penryn managed to gain some possession and territory, but a yellow card for Jones after tackling off the ball put the home side on the back foot.

With St Austell camped in their 22, it was only a matter of time before right wing Johns ran in the visitors’ second try.

Borough desperately needed a score before half time, but could only salvage a penalty kick by fly-half Strick before the whistle blew 15-6.

Strick then missed two early second half penalties, a potential six points which would have put them straight back in contention.

Falmouth Packet:

Nathan Strick goes on the run for Penryn. Picture: CORNISHPHOTOS

Penryn woke up to the fact time was of the essence and a darting run from scrum-half Nathan Strick resulted in a two-on-one with Seviour who ran it in under the posts in the 64th minute.

A threatening Saints catch-and-drive maul was pulled down in front of the line and the visitors were awarded a penalty try with Ashwin’s conversion making it 22-13.

Hope was restored by Penryn’s pack as they drove a scrum over the line, allowing flanker Jones to secure an important 76th minute converted try.

Borough were two tantalising points away from reaching the final and a last-minute penalty was set to provide them.

Sadly, the distance, a good 40 metres away, proved just too far for Horton and the ball faded away along with their cup final hopes.

Accuracy, it seemed, was Penryn’s downfall, but Churcher refused to dwell on hindsight.

“Of course those [kicks] would have changed the result,” he said.

“But we fired right back as best we could.

“It’s not the end of the world. Rugby is all about momentum and we’ll take those positives rolling into next week’s game against Okehampton.”

PENRYN: 15 Creeden, 14 Horton, 13 Vague, 12 Seviour, 11 Willey, 10 M Strick, 9 N Strick; 1 Burley, 2 Booth, 3 A Strick, 4 Trevaskis, 5 Fields, 6 Jones (c), 7 P Hinchley, 8 Hoban.

REPS: Oldfield, Williams, Pellow, Rainbird, C Hinchley, Paine.

TRIES: Seviour, Jones.

CONS: M Strick 2/2.

PENS: M Strick (2).