St Austell held their nerve to edge out Penryn in a pulsating semi-final at the Memorial Ground. It really should not have been this close after the Saints had controlled the first half but failed to turn their dominance into points. The home side roared back in the third quarter and even had the chance of snatching victory with a late penalty kick that strayed wide. The Saints held their nerve to reach their third final in four seasons where they will meet Camborne in a rerun of last year’s decider.

The visitors started at a blistering pace forcing the home side into conceding an early penalty which scrum-half Andy Ashwin dutifully converted. Penryn were struggling with the high tempo of the game and a quick lineout on the halfway line allowed full back Dan Pearce to blaze a trail to the try line (0-8). At this stage the home side looked to be totally out classed but they dug deep to stem the tide and got their reward with a long distance penalty (3-8). The Saints were still forcing the pace and were denied further scores as the final pass failed to go to hand or strayed forward. That was until former Borough player James Martin rounded off a well worked move by cutting in from his wing to go over near the posts (3-15). Flanker Jack Grigg suffered a nasty gash to his nose after bravely completing a tap tackle to join winger Darren Pellow, already off with a dislocated finger, on the side lines. With the Saints now subsiding from their early dominance, Penryn grabbed a second penalty to make the score 6-15 at half time.

It was a totally different Penryn who started the second half giving the visitors a taste of their own medicine with a series of powerful drives. The Saints were under the cosh spending much of the third quarter under pressure defending stoutly. It took until the hour mark for the home side to breakthrough with an excellent try under the post to put the game back in the melting pot (13-15). From the restart the Saints created an attacking platform in home territory for the first time in the second period. Penryn did well to withstand the initial surges but were caught out by a swift counter attack led by Dan Pearce and were forced to infringe to prevent the threatening move continuing. The Saints decided to kick the penalty to touch rather than go for the posts and their ambition was quickly rewarded. The catch and drive rumbled forwards forcing the home side to collapse the maul as it crossed the Penryn try line. The referee awarded a penalty try and the Saints appeared to be back in the comfort zone at 13-22 with 10 minutes to go. Penryn quickly exploited any complacency in Saints’ ranks to set-up a last hurrah in the visitors’ 22. With prop Hugh Noott sin binned for a lineout infringement the home side took advantage of the Saints’ unsettled scrum with a try off a set piece from 5m (20-22). The conversion put the cat amongst the pigeons for the last two minutes of the game, Penryn gambled on a 45m penalty kick to win the tie but the ball was short and wide and it was the Saints into the final.

This was a game that should have seen the Saints out of sight by halftime but Penryn deserve huge credit for their second half performance to keep the result in doubt right up to the final whistle. The Saints will put all thought of the final out of their minds until May as the focus returns to the league with the visit of Gloucestershire side Thornbury next Saturday 21 March 2015 (KO 2:30 at Tregorrick).

Match Stats:

St Austell:
1 Peter Rowe; 2 Miles Davey (Capt.); 3 Mark Martin; 4 Hugh Noott; 5 Mark Vian; 6 Jack Grigg; 7 Ian Venner; 8 Paul Winterbottom; 9 Andy Ashwin; 10 Liam Freeman; 11 Darren Pellow; 12 Callum Wilson; 13 Alex Welland; 14 Dan Johns; 15 Dan Pearce

Reps:
Peter Tuckley; James Martin; Rob Jeffs; Sam Rhodes; Adam Kellow; Adam Barbery

St Austell:
Tries – Dan Pearce (7); James Martin (25); Penalty Try (70)
Cons – Andy Ashwin (25; 70)
Pens – Andy Ashwin (2)
Drop Goal –

Penryn:
Tries – (60; 78)
Cons – (60; 78)
Pens – (14; 34)
Drop Goal –

Yellow Cards:
St Austell: Hugh Noott (76)
Penryn: (22)

Red Cards:
St Austell: None
Penryn: None

Referee: Mr Carl Bennett (South West Group)

Saints’ Man of the Match: Dan Pearce – Potent in attack scoring one try and prominently involved in the build-up of the other two. Showed resilience under the Penryn second half revival.