TRADITION is a wonderful thing in sport and Good Friday saw the beginning of Old Dunstonians’ 81st tour of Cornwall.

As has become customary in the latter half of the event’s history, the side from the London/Kent border started the three match series at the Memorial Ground as the Duchy’s oldest club Penryn played hosts.

Borough put out a strong side with most of the XV regular first team players but even with this a jolly atmosphere surrounded the clash both on and off the pitch.

The set pieces battle was dominated by Penryn throughout the match and after eight minutes they bagged the opening try from a move started at a line-out on the left wing about 15m into the Pink Elephant’s half.

After successfully claiming the ball, play was quickly thrusted across the pitch to the opposite side where potent winger Josh Chambers was waiting on the overlap to sprint clear for the uncoverted score.

In the early exchanges the home defence had been fantastic at the breakdown with turnovers being produced by the back row trio of George Jones, Tom Hoban and Grant Randlesome.

However, an error led to a comical equalising try for the visitors when from a 5m line-out, Jones looked to claw the ball away from the attacking Elephants only to see his palm down fall straight back into hooker Chad Reay’s hands.

With no-one in front of him, the excitable forward scampered over freely and even took up kicking duties with his effort going across the face of the uprights.

After a shaky start to their tour, the Elephants were starting to come into the game with their fly-half Nathan ‘Jiggy’ Banks’ kicking form finding its top notch and gaining territory in Borough’s 22, keeping the hosts pinned back.

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Scrum-half Callum Hinchley looks for passing options to his left hand side. Picture: CORNISHPHOTOS

This pressure led to a penalty going against Penryn in front of their posts which Reay slotted home easily, but matters were levelled two minutes later when Matt Horton kicked for three points after Jake Seviour’s break and referee Nick Searle spotted a defender not releasing.

Borough tried to up the ante again but found the second 20 minutes rather frustrating as mistakes crept into their game such as Horton butchering a three-on-one overlap as he threw his pass without looking at the intended target.

There was even a little argy bargy between team-mates Ben Ashwin and Phil Hinchley after a scrum went wrong and another error right next to the uprights gave Reay a penalty he comfortably kicked home.

Horton did get a chance to make it 11-11 but saw his 32nd minute penalty smash into the post, but on the stroke of half time Penryn got back in front as they capitalised on a loose pass.

Scrum-half Callum Hinchley reacted quickest and booted the ball from his own half deep into the Elephants’ 22 with Chambers chasing down hard.

Although he made a meal of his pick-up, Mitch Vague was in support and gathered it up before giving to left winger Jack Willey to dot down by the posts for a simple conversion, making it 15-11 at the break.

Momentum shifted right into Borough’s path after this making the second half very one sided.

A sin-bin in the 47th minute to a visiting forward was taken full advantage of by the hosts with eight points with their man advantage through a Horton penalty before Randlesome broke through the defence to create a try for Hoban.

On the hour mark fly-half Martin Strick sold the defence a dummy to go on the run before offloading to Horton, who kicked the ball into space for Chambers to pick it up and touch down.

The last try came with seven minutes remaining as after conceding several penalties from scrums in their own 22, the Elephants were caught napping and Benny Jordan went over after Borough created a five-on-two overlap by the left touchline.

Well beaten but not disappointed, the visitors remained around for hours afterwards in the clubhouse with home players and supporters to compliment the superb atmosphere.

PENRYN: 15 Horton, 14 Chambers, 13 Vague, 12 Seviour, 11 Willey, 10 Strick, 9 C Hincley; 1 Oldfield, 2 P Hinchley, 3 Williams, 4 Ashwin, 5 Hughes, 6 Jones (c), 7 Hoban, 8 Randlesome.

REPS: Booth, Burley, Trevaskis, Hancock, Fields, Jordan, Paine.

TRIES: Chambers (8, 60), Willey (40), Hoban (54), Jordan (73).

CONS: Horton 1/5.

PENS: Horton (19, 51)