Penryn 74, Hayle 3

Penryn regained top spot in the Cornwall/Devon league, with a 12-try thrashing of Hayle on Saturday to set up a mouth-watering top-of-the-table showdown with Honiton next week.

The Borough lead Honiton by a point in the table and face off this coming weekend in a crucial game that will likely shape the rest of the league season for both teams. The Borough bounced back from a tough last minute defeat against next week’s opponents to ease through the gears in collecting a dozen tries, which included a special debut score.

The home side rotated their squad for this encounter, with a few bruised bodies from the week before and an eye on next week, but still boasted a strong line-up. There were some eye catching selections though, with Adam Hughes captaining the side for the first time and 17-year-old Charlie Levick making his first senior appearance.

Unfortunately for Hayle, they encountered a Penryn side in a merciless mood and would experience a torrid afternoon which began with an opening quarter mauling. Within 17 minutes, Penryn had already sewn up the bonus point and led 24-0 following two tries from the skipper Hughes, one from Paul Saberton and a penalty try, with one Tom Wallace conversion. Things weren’t going to get any better for the visitors either, as further tries from Viv Wilmott, Josh Chambers and another from Saberton served to really put Hayle to bed early. Two more Wallace conversions made for a rather crushing half time score of 43-0 and the pain was far from over.

A big score was inevitable, but Penryn were still keen to try and implement their structure as well as keeping the visitors out on what has become a notoriously difficult ground to score points for away teams. The half began with Hughes completing his hat trick, with the pick of his four scores on the afternoon, but the moment of the game was still yet to come. The Borough brought up their half century in style, as Levick, on debut, weaved his way through several would be defenders before turning on the after burners to roar home for a first senior try. Seldom has there been a more popular score at the memorial ground, with Levick’s fellow colts cheering the youngster home before Wallace converted for 55-0.

George Jones was next to get on the score sheet, with the flanker unable to be stopped by his opposite number and Wallace again converted. Hayle heads were down long before Penryn’s tenth of the afternoon, but they did register some points electing to kick a drop goal rather than what appeared to be an inevitable nilling, to take the score to 62-3. There was still time for two more Penryn tries to make it a round dozen, firstly through replacement James Salisbury and then Hughes, who grabbed his fourth. Wallace converted the former’s try and it was game over at 74-3.

This weekend needs no build up, as Penryn look for revenge for their National Cup defeat at Honiton. The prize for the winner is top spot and it promises to be another enthralling contest.

Penryn: Saberton, Levick, Hitchens, Wallace, Wilmott, Johnson, Chambers, Cockrell, Gratrix, Pattison, Trevaskis, Homer, Hellier, Jones, Hughes. Reps: Patterson, Nelson, Salisbury.

Tries: Hughes (4), Saberton (2), Penalty, Wilmott, Chambers, Levick, Jones, Salisbury

Conversions: Wallace (6)