North Petherton 54 St Austell 0

Saints were out-gunned up front and struggled to contain Pethy’s pacey and strong running back-line. The long journey to Somerset was always going to be a tough task for a depleted Saints side missing several regulars due to injury, illness and unavailability. But make no mistake the champions elect would have been hard for any Saints team to contain. Superbly marshalled by fly-half Jervis Manupenu the hosts played a fast high tempo game coupled with clinical finishing. The Cornishmen tackled tenaciously and contested for the full 80 minutes but a catalogue of unforced errors continually handed the initiative to Pethy. Five restarts went out on the full and with a high turnover count and the scrum under pressure the home side were able to dominate possession and territory.

Manupenu opened the scoring with a routine penalty kick in the 3rd minute after Saints strayed offside. The restart was too long and Pethy punished the Saints for an infringement at the resulting scrum with a spiralling touch kick, deep into the Saints’ 22. A catch and drive from the lineout was initially thwarted but hooker Sam Williams managed to force his way over for an unconverted try. Minutes later Manupenu added another penalty to put Saints 11-0 down with ten minutes on the clock. Pethy’s dominance was underlined by three further tries, the pick of the bunch being a kick and chase out of defence that saw full back Gavin Hancock run almost 60m to touch down under the posts. It was a shell shocked Saints that reached half time 30-0 down and facing the prospect of a heavy defeat.
Saints were much improved in the second half and despite exerting some periods of pressure on the hosts never really looked like crossing the try line. The few high points for the Saints were all around courageous defence as they bravely fought to stem the tide. Despite this Pethy still added a further four tries to complete their 54-0 victory. The defeat effectively ends the Saints’ slim promotion hopes although they can still mathematically reach second place and a potential play-off. Without doubt North Petherton are the best side St Austell have faced in many years and their style of play is one that the men from Tregorrick will be keen to emulate. This disappointment should not detract from what has been an excellent first season back in the Tribute West Counties League. This is a tough environment for a young side to learn as the league is full of good teams. Saints will now be looking to consolidate their fourth place finish when they take on Wellington at Tregorrick Park next week (KO 2:30pm Saturday 31 March).

Match Stats:

St Austell: Noott; Grigg; Williams (Rowe 53); Pearce (Tank 62); Haley; Swiggs (Hughes 29); Winterbottom; Jeffs; McCoan; Shepherd; Chenoweth; Earp (Captain); Taylor; Welland; Evison.

St Austell: Tries –
Cons –
Pens –
Drop Goal –

North Petherton: Tries – S William (9); Hancock (14, 43); Griffin (22); Carter (33, 61); L Williams (67); Elisara (79)
Cons – Manupenu (2); S Williams (2)
Pens – Manupenu (2)

Yellow Cards: St Austell: North Petherton:
Red Cards St Austell: None North Petherton: None

Referee: Roger Gilson (Somerset RRS)

Saints Man of the Match: Alex Welland