The Saints are facing three games in seven days starting with this trip to Somerset against Bridgwater & Albion. This is followed by a midweek visit from Wadebridge Camels for the Cornwall Cup semi-final before the league leaders Chew Valley come down to Cornwall next Saturday. The heavy workload is forcing the Saints to make full use of their squad and the changes probably contributed to a disjointed and error strewn performance that saw them come off second best to an invigorated Bridgwater & Albion side. The Saints seemed to have recovered from conceding an early try to score three of their own, but with half time approaching slack defending allowed the home side to close the gap. The Cornishmen appeared to be easing themselves to a vital win on the hour mark after a fourth try put them 26-18 ahead, but a calamitous six-minute spell saw them concede two tries and lose a player to the bin. The home side held on to secure a deserved win as the Saints were unable to find a way through some determined defence.

On a glorious sunny day the Saints conceded a try inside the opening 90 seconds, home full back Oskar White broke a lacklustre tackle on the 40m before being taken down inside the Cornish 22. Winger William Monro picked the ball up from the back of the ruck and was given the freedom of College Way as he scampered over unimpeded from 10m out (7-0). The Saints responded well with the home side just about managing to repel a lineout catch and drive, Bridge then somehow prevented Andy Inch from touching down after the flanker had surged through an opening. The mounting pressure finally told when prop Dan Job burrowed over from a quickly taken tap penalty, Matt Shepherd’s conversion tied up the scores at 7-7. The Saints took the lead with a fine individual try from centre Konnor Ewudzi, who first dislodged the ball from his opposite number before kicking ahead and gathering it before sprinting 50m to the try line (7-12) Home fly half Stuart Heal knocked over a routine penalty after the Saints strayed off-side (10-12) but the visitors extended their lead with a superb try. The visitors stole a line out and a glorious long pass from Matt Shepherd allowed Konnor Ewudzi to break the gain line, draw the last defender and pop the pass out to winger Cavan Boyer to finish in the corner. The touchline conversion pushed the Saints 10-19 in front and that really should have been the platform to go on to create an unassailable lead. Unfortunately the visitors’ defence were caught dozing again as hooker Jordan Buller broke off from the back of a maul to run a straight line through a gapping chasm in the Cornish defence for a try from 10m (15-19).

The second half got off to a tepid start and it took a fairly innocuous looking collision between Saints number eight Adam Kellow and Bridge flanker George Sluman to create the first spark. The Cornishman was deemed to have gone too high into the contact and was shown a yellow card, along with a sporting handshake from his opponent. Stuart Heal kicked the penalty to close the gap to just one point (18-19). Despite being one player down, the Saints started to reassert themselves and after a period of pressure Dan Job grabbed his second try of the day (18-26). The Saints seemed to be reasonably comfortable but were made to pay the price for again not building on their lead when the game turned on its head during a manic six minutes. A goal-line dropkick by the Saints went out on the full and from the resulting 5m scrum Bridge launched a back move across the width of the pitch with Full back Oskar White entering the line at pace. The Bridge 15 was pulled down 5m out by Ben Plummer with a seat belt tackle which saw the Saints centre sent to the bin. The Saints felt there were two supporting defenders close enough to prevent the score but the referee felt otherwise and awarded a penalty try (25-26). The home side reclaimed the restart and in a perfectly timed run William Monro scythed through the Saints defence attacking the gap left by the missing centre now on his 10-minute sabbatical to the side lines (30-26). Throughout the remaining eight minutes Saints huffed and puffed but struggled to breach an exuberant defensive effort from the home side. The away side’s woes were perhaps summed up when with three minutes left they were awarded a penalty on halfway. The kick to touch was miscued and instead of spiralling deep into the home 22 to provide a lineout platform for a last assault on the home try line, it veered away landing in the dead ball area allowing Bridgwater to see the game out.

The high number of unforced errors over the 80 minutes by the Saints meant they struggled to maintain field position and momentum. The Saints will not have long to dwell on what could have been as the games are coming thick and fast. Finishing in the top three remains in their hands but with Crediton away sandwiched between home games against title rivals Chew Valley and Devonport Services, today’s result means there is limited margin for error. For now focus switches to the mid-week Cornwall Cup semi-final against Wadebridge Camels, unbeaten so far this season and already crowned champions of the West Counties West.

Saints Star Man: Zach Morley – an excellent individual display as part of a new look back row. A special mention as well for young prop Archie Rolls who came on for Saints debut and acquitted himself extremely well.

1 Dan Job; 2 Miles Davey (Capt.); 3 Brandon Haque; 4 Mark Vian; 5 Tony Knight; 6 Andy Inch; 7 Zach Morley; 8 Adam Kellow; 9 CJ Boyce; 10 Chris Ashwin; 11 Alex Welland; 12 Ben Plummer 13 Konnor Ewudzi; 14 Cavan Boyer; 15 Matt Shepherd
Reps (All used):
Joe Maunder; Archie Bees; Archie Rolls

St Austell:
Tries – Dan Job (13, 52); Konnor Ewudzi (21); Cavan Boyer (29)
Cons – Matt Shepherd (13, 29; 52)
Pens –
Drop Goal –

Bridgwater & Albion:
Tries – William Monro (2, 72); Jordan Buller (34); Penalty Try (68)
Cons – Stuart Heal (2)
Pens – Stuart Heal (25; 46)
Drop Goal –

Yellow Cards:
St Austell: Adam Kellow (45); Ben Plummer (68)
Bridgwater & Albion: None

Red Cards:
St Austell: None
Bridgwater & Albion: None