The bonus point victory coupled with leaders North Petherton surprise draw at bottom club Tiverton puts Saints joint top of the table at the half way stage of the season. Sarries played a full part in a keenly contested game but the Saints more powerful pack and greater cutting edge out wide ensured they ran out deserved winners.

The game was preceded with a minute’s silence as a mark of respect for local soldier Sapper Elijah Bond of 35 Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers who tragically lost his life on Tuesday in Afghanistan.

Sarries were under pressure right from the kick off and the only surprise was that it took the home side until the 10th minute before they crossed the try line. The Saints scrum were totally dominating the proceedings allowing skipper Andy Ashwin to orchestrate a blind side move for winger Ben Chenoweth to slice through the visitors defence and touch down under the posts. Scrum half Matt Shepherd completed the formalities with a tidy conversion kick. The Devon men hit back and scored a nicely worked try of their own following a turnover in the middle of the park. Their strong running backs made deep inroads into Saints territory forcing the home side to throw more numbers into defending the fringes. Sarries worked the ball wide quickly enabling centre Matt Hilton to squeeze over and with full back Ben Cowley converting the scores were all tied with 15 minutes gone. Saints continued to press but some uncharacteristic handling errors meant the next score remained tantalisingly out of reach, literally! It took a Shepherd penalty on 32 minutes, for a Sarries offside, to restore the lead and sooth the home side’s nerves. Straight from the restart the Saints forwards led a series of drives up the field with young prop Ryan Knott, making his first start, carrying the ball particularly well. The high tempo attack sucked in defenders allowing Ashwin and Shepherd to combine for the scrum half to dive over for an unconverted try. Saints continued to play at pace but were finding the visitors organised in defence so it needed something special to break through. Flanker Paul Winterbottom took the ball on just outside the 22 and with everyone expecting him to take the contact to create the next phase he astutely kicked over the defence. Chaos ensured in the dead ball area and it was the onrushing full back Callum Evison who dived on the loose ball. Shepherd’s conversion made it 22-7 as the whistle went for half time.

Saints were forced into changes with both number 8 Rob Jeffs and centre Curtis Newberry suffering knocks allowing Dave Swiggs and Ian Venner to come on at the start of the second half. The new comers slotted into the rhythm of the game from the outset as the Saints continued to play with real fluency in attack. A well worked line out move allowed Winterbottom to crash over for his 12th try of the season. With 53 minutes gone Knott was forced from the field with injury to be replaced with another young prop in Ryan Brown. Sarries continued to probe keeping Saints on their mettle but any faint hopes of a comeback were extinguished with the try of the game. Venner ripped the ball from a Sarries attacker before exploding out of the Saints 22. On reaching the halfway line he found the ever present Sean Haley in support and the lock forward sprinted gazelle like into the visitors’ half before drawing the full back. The ball was passed in a flash to winger Alex Welland who scorched over to finish under the posts. Shepherd’s conversion stretched the lead as the game moved into the final quarter. Ashwin crowned a fine personal performance with a well worked try as he side stepped his way through the Sarries first up defence to cruise majestically under posts, Shepherd again converted. The final try was a testimony to the hard work of the Saints wingmen, first Chenoweth stifled a Sarries attack and then fly hacked the ball up field with Welland in close support. The two wingers continued to kick the ball beyond the despairing hands of the defenders until Welland was able to get the decisive touchdown. Shepherd’s conversion brought the game to a close to the delight of the big home crowd.

Saints have now reached the half way stage of the season and can be justly proud of their efforts to date. They sit joint top of the Western Counties and will look forward to the next round of 13 matches with real confidence. The first of these is a trip to Kingsbridge, Saints won the first encounter 46-7 but will be expecting a much stiffer challenge at High House (Kick Off 2:30pm, Saturday 17 December 2011).

Match Stats:

St Austell: Knott (Brown 53), Hughes, Martin, Pearce, Haley, Grigg, Winterbottom, Jeffs (Swiggs 40), Shepherd, Ashwin (Captain), Chenoweth, Taylor, Newberry (Venner 42), Welland, Evison

St Austell: Tries – Chenoweth (10); Shepherd (32); Evison 39; Winterbottom (47); Welland (62, 80); Ashwin (70)
Cons – Shepherd (5)
Pens – Shepherd

Exeter Saracens: Tries – Hilton (15)
Cons – Cowley
Pens –

Yellow Cards: St Austell: None Exeter Saracens: None

Red Cards St Austell: None Exeter Saracens: None

Referee: Simon Lord (Cornwall RS)

Saints Man of the Match: Sean Haley