The Devonians never entered the Saints’ 22 in the 80 minutes and indeed rarely ventured into the home half in the second period. Despite dominating territory and having the lion’s share of the possession the home side struggled to make progress against Paignton’s well organised and determined rear-guard. The black wall kept their defensive shape and structures for the entire 80 minutes to continually frustrate the Saints. It took until the 70th minute to finally put some daylight on the scoreboard to dispel any notion of an upset.

Almost straight from the kick off, Saints were caught offside and Mike Sandercock launched a 40m howitzer over to put the visitors in front. The Paignton scrum half followed this up minutes later, this time from a mere 35m, to put the visitors 0-6 to the good. The home side responded by pounding through the phases but in a pattern that was to exasperate players and supporters alike, promising positions were lost as they frequently erred in the eyes of the referee to allow the visitors an easy exit. The persistence eventually paid off when a quick tap penalty from number eight Andy Inch caught the Paignton defence out for once and quick ball released winger Ben Chenoweth to score in the corner. Liam Freeman’s touchline conversion put the Saints in front (7-6) but the lead was short lived when a penalty offence on the halfway line allowed the visitors to restore their lead. To the amazement of the Tregorrick crowd, fly half Dave Siddall asked for the kicking tee and then thumped the ball 50m to restore the visitor’s lead (7-9). A rare foray into the Saints half allowed Siddall to drop a goal from 30m to make the half time score 7-12.

TThe Saints made a purposeful start but continually ran into traffic or were turned over by the referee’s shrill blast as they continued to struggle to adapt to the official’s interpretation of the breakdown. After twenty minutes of almost continuous pressure the Saints finally got the breakthrough when the pack pushed Paignton off their own ball. The half backs passed quickly and Al Welland, making his first appearance in two years, fed fellow centre Shane Johns to crash over the line. Liam Freeman’s conversion put the home side back in front (14-12) and this was quickly followed by the Saints third try. A catch and drive on the Paignton 22 was propelled forward at an astonishing rate of knots allowing flanker Ian Venner to touchdown (21-12). The home side went in search of the fourth try but Paignton continued to defend valiantly to thwart the Saints ambitions.

The win was the Saints 12th win of the league season to keep them nicely nestled in second place at the halfway point. Frustratingly it is the 7th time they have been held on three tries to miss out on the bonus point and it is now becoming clear that teams are coming to Tregorrick to stifle and contain the Saints rather than take them on in a more open game. Some thought will be given to devise ways to breakdown well organised and disciplined defences in 2018.

There are no games on Saturday 23 December 2017, but the traditional Boxing Day fixture sees the Sinners take on local rivals Lankelly-Fowey at Tregorrick (11:00 KO). The Saints are back in action on Saturday 30 December 2017 when they take on Penryn in the County Cup quarter final. The Borough are flying high in the Cornwall and Devon League having only been beaten once so far this season so it promises to be a classic cup encounter at Tregorrick (14:00 KO).

St Austell
1 Mark Martin; 2 Miles Davey (Capt.); 3 Peter Rowe; 4 Adam Kellow; 5 Mark Vian; 6 Hector Bright; 7 Ian Venner; 8 Andy Inch; 9 Andy Ashwin; 10 Liam Freeman; 11 Ben Chenoweth; 12 Alex Welland 13 Shane Johns; 14 Cavan Boyer; 15 CJ Boyce
Reps (All used):
Tony Knight; Mike Shakespear; Jake Carr

Saints Star Men: Mark Martin

St Austell:
Tries – Ben Chenoweth (21); Shane Johns (61); Ian Venner (70)
Cons – Liam Freeman (21, 61, 70)
Pens –
Drop Goal –

Paignton
Tries –
Cons –
Pens – Mike Sandercock (1, 7)
Drop Goal – Dave Sidall (24, 35)

Referee: Mr Marcus Monier-Williams (Dorset & Wiltshire RRS)