Saints finished their final home match of the season with a comfortable win over Cornish rivals Hayle at sun drenched Tregorrick Park. This means that in their first season in the Cornwall and Devon league Saints will finish no worse than 5th with a possible chance of 3rd place and also guaranteed to finish the top Cornish team in this league in what has been a very successful season.

Against Hayle St Austell had several players missing at a wedding but showed their strength and depth by fielding a tam that were not only competitive but threatened to run away with the game in the opening stages.

In perfect running conditions Saints were quickly out of the blocks and soon had the visitors under pressure and took the lead after 5 minutes. Winger Tom Crapp was tackled on the right wing and the ball was quickly passed along the backs to give left wing Meshak Esien space to sprint down the line and score in the corner, Andy Ashwin playing in the centre, drilled the conversion through the posts for 7-0. More Saints pressure ended with Ashwin converting a penalty after the Hayle backs were caught offside and at 10-0 with as many minutes gone a cricket score looked on the cards, credit to Hayle they dug in and not only defended well but went on the offensive and nearly made it over the line but were held up and although Ashwin hit the crossbar from near halfway there was no more scoring in the first period.

Hayle closed the gap soon after the break with fly half Josh Rule converting a penalty after Saints infringed at a ruck, but the home team soon maintained the 10 point gap when straight from the restart their forwards drove Hayle into their own 22 and when the ref penalised the visitors the ever reliable Ashwin converted the penalty for 13-3.

Saints took control of the match and had chances to increase their lead but had to wait until the 65th minute when fly half Charles French who had a fine game sent over a long pass to centre James Earp who timed his run perfectly to cut through the defence and run behind the posts to allow Ashwin the easy conversion for 20-3. Saints kept the pressure on until the end and with five minutes to play Ashwin capped a fine team performance with a final penalty to give Saints a deserved 23-3 victory.

J Gibbons
R Pill
D Phillips
S McNally
A Pearce
J Grigg
D Thompson
A Kellow
M Shepherd
C French
M Esien
J Earp
A Ashwin
T Crapp
L Jones

reps : A Dyer, R Pollard and O Taylor