Tregorrick celebrated the first win of the season as St Austell bounced back from last week’s disappointing defeat at Devonport Services. With both sides keen to run the ball it made for an exciting game, the home side dominated for long periods but failure to convert pressure into points meant Exmouth always remained within touching distance. It took until the 77th minute for prop Charlie Nicholson to crash over to put the result beyond doubt.

It was Exmouth’s first visit to Tregorrick since the 2000-01 season when the Saints were on a downward path passing through the West Counties league with the Cockles heading in the other direction. Their paths had not crossed again since then, so the visit of a slightly unfamiliar foe was eagerly anticipated. On a dry but breezy day the Saints got off to a fast start immediately putting the Devonians on the back foot. The home pack racked up the phases to gain good field position inside the 22 and quick service from half-backs CJ Boyce and Archie Bees allowed Matt Shepherd to skip through a gap. The Saints’ full-back converted his own try to put the Saints 7-0 after just two minutes.
Two penalties in quick succession saw the momentum swing to Exmouth, the home defence held firm before launching a dramatic counter attack. Centre Ben Plummer was fingertips away from crowning his 100th senior appearance with a try but he was just unable to scoop up the ball. The home side were punished for a high tackle when fly half George Meadows knocked over a penalty from 40m (7-3).

Buoyed by the score, Exmouth looked to take the game to the home side with powerful outside centre Nick Headly ripping through some slack tackling. It took a try saving tackle from Matt Shepherd to halt the progress, with the Exmouth man isolated the referee pinged for not releasing allowing the home side to clear the danger. The Saints enjoyed a purple patch during the second quarter, but a mixture of good defensive work and Saints profligacy left the Cornishmen frustrated. Both Dan Tyrrell and Ben Plummer went close only to be denied on the try line, a score seemed inevitable from a rumbling maul only for the pass out to be intercepted and cleared. The breakthrough finally came after flanker Oliver Willis was shown a yellow card for a high tackle. The penalty was kicked deep into the 22 with the catch and drive eating up the 10m before Cam Taylor touched down to make the half time score 12-3.

Exmouth no doubt would have felt that they would be a bigger attacking threat in the second period with the breeze now at their backs. However it was the home side who again made the early running, and they really should have scored after stretching the ball wide only for the final pass to be intercepted. The game went into a cagey phase with both sides no doubt feeling the next score would be crucial. On the hour mark, the Saints looked to have got the breakthrough after more good play from the forwards put sustained pressure on the Exmouth try line. Unfortunately the ball was knocked on in the attempted act of scoring letting the visitors off the hook. Frustration mounted when a forward pass meant a well worked overlap went to waste. Exmouth then underlined that despite the pressure they could still be a threat with fast paced counter attack that needed the cool calm head of Sam Parsons to stop. It took another catch and drive to finally put the result to bed with prop Charlie Nicholson finishing off the excellent work of the pack. Matt Shepherd’s conversion made the final score 19-3 and confirmed the Saints first win of the season.

There is no doubt the Saints have been given a tough baptism to life in Regional 1 with their opening six matches against all of last season’s top half teams. It was an encouraging performance against an Exmouth side who finished fifth in 2022-23 and had won all three of their opening fixtures in the current campaign. The home side had enough opportunities to win more comfortably and add a try scoring bonus point, but they can be satisfied with their efforts against good opposition.

Next Saturday sees the Saints on the road to Ivybridge RFC (Kick-Off 3pm on Saturday 30th September 2023). The Devonians have had an unexpectedly sluggish start to the season with four narrow defeats, so while this a good opportunity for the Saints to build on a good performance they will be aware there are no easy games in Regional One.

Saints Star Man: Second row Tom Daniel had a standout game with some excellent carries and power in defence. He caused havoc in the Exmouth lineout snaffling their ball on half a dozen occasions as well as delivering good ball to the backline on the Saints put in.

Saints
1 Matt Boothby; 2 Miles Davey; 3 Charlie Nicholson; 4 Mark Vian (Captain); 5 Tom Daniel; 6 Rhys Daniel; 7 Cam Taylor; 8 Kyle Marriott; 9 CJ Boyce; 10 Matt Shepherd; 11 Dan Tyrrell; 12 Ben Plummer; 13 Sam Parsons; 14 Max Bullen; 15 Archie Bees
Reps (All used):
Dan Job; River Nowell; Peter Tuckley

St Austell:
Tries – Matt Shepherd (2); Tom Daniel (34); Charlie Nicholson (77)
Cons – Matt Shepherd (2, 78)
Pens –

Yellow card – Miles Davey (55)

Exmouth:
Tries –
Cons –
Pens – George Meadows (15)

Yellow card – Oliver Willis (33); Danny Fyffe (76)