Penryn 20 Devonport Services 15

Penryn finally racked up a second victory of the season, seeing off the challenge of a visiting Devonport Services outfit who made them fight all the way in a thrilling encounter.

Better still for the Borough, they notched a first try bonus point of the season and welcomed back winger Alex Ducker after a two year absence from the club. Penryn went into the clash bottom of Western Counties West, following a sobering 50-0 defeat at the hands of Cullompton last week.

While the table looked bleak for the Borough, with 18 games to go there is certainly time for them to climb out of the relegation zone, though it would ideally have to start at home to Devonport.

If Penryn were lacking in confidence, they certainly didn’t show it early on. The sizeable home pack took the game to the visitors and after five minutes, lock Ben Trevaskis powered over from close range to give the Borough a dream start. The kickers would find the conditions challenging all afternoon, and Matt Horton was off target with his first attempt.

Penryn had a chance to extend their lead soon after, but Horton again couldn’t find his range. The winger repaid the five missed points from the tee, by crossing the whitewash soon after to give Penryn a 10-0 lead. Ducker settled quickly back into his familiar surroundings and began to have a major influence on the game, leaving several would be Devonport defenders in his wake creating space for the clinical Penryn backs to send Horton away. Ducker’s left footed conversion attempt was wide however.

Penryn did have to navigate a tricky spell on their own line with a series of strong scrums from the visitors, in which they somehow managed to escape without their line being breached, as well as two penalty goal attempts cannoning off the uprights. The visitors did however finally break the Borough resistance to score out wide, making it 10-5 at the break.

The second half didn’t start as Penryn would have hoped, especially with the score so finely poised. The visitors narrowed the gap initially with a penalty goal from captain Matt Anstis to put the Borough on red alert.

Minutes later alarm bells were well and truly ringing as the Services stretched the home side to breaking point and scored in the corner once again. Despite a missed conversion, Devonport had turned around a 10-5 half time deficit to lead 15-10.

Penryn’s response was calm and measured despite the manner in which they trailed, levelling almost immediately.

The forwards executed a training ground line out move to send Ben Trevaskis over for his second try of the game and Penryn’s third.

Horton again narrowly missed, but the Borough were at least level. Going behind almost seemed to galvanize the home troops, as Penryn immediately went back on the attack, searching for the lead and a try bonus point.

Ducker thought he had crowned his comeback with a neat try in the corner, only to be adjudged to be in touch.

Centre Andrew Seviour made no mistake however, powering his way through to give Penryn the lead and the elusive try bonus point. Ducker’s attempted conversion was wide but Penryn crucially had regained the lead.

The nerves began to surface in the closing stages as Penryn desperately tried to hold on for what would be a massive victory, but Devonport piled on the pressure.

It was two of Penryn’s young guns that would get them out of bother though. Firstly debutant Josh Dale took a crucial scrum against the head on Penryn’s own five metre line, before Callum Hinchley won a penalty in midfield several phases later. With one line out to manage, the home pack coolly secured their own ball and booted the ball into the stands to spark scenes of relief as much as jubilation.

Penryn: Creeden, Horton, Vague, Seviour, Ducker, Chambers (capt) C Hinchley, Toader, Dale, Booth, Hancock, Trevaskis, Keay, P Hinchley, Rose Reps: Burley, Hughes, Paine

Tries: Trevaskis (2), Horton, Seviour