Danny Parry’s last game in Withycombe colours left the Green & Black as the lone unbeaten team atop the Cornwall and Devon league last Saturday. The Forest of Dean native is heading home and will be sorely missed but left with a bang at the Mennaye.

With that said, the abiding memory of the game might not be Parry’s last involvement, but rather another Gloucester boy’s contribution. Five minutes in, Dave Sims ripped the ball from a Pirates maul close to their own line and found himself one-on-one with the tryline looming. Sims threw a dummy and walked over untouched to open the scoring.

The other big feature which dominated proceedings was the physicality, reflected in the four yellow cards picked up by Withycombe players. The first to take a rest was Joe Parkin on ten minutes for a tackle on a player deemed to be still in the air. The Withycombe defence held firm as Pirates failed to make use of the one-man advantage.

There was a flurry of yellow cards just before half time, with the home side’s Steve Evans going on 36 minutes before Danny Parry and his opposite number saw yellow for little more than handbags at scrum time. The hosts could count themselves lucky to be going in just 8 points down, Glenn Channing kicking the only penalty goal of Withycombe’s three attempts at the posts.

Pirates looked a different side right after half time, and as Withycombe’s physicality temporarily deserted them, they scored a smash-and-grab try to get themselves back in it. Ten minutes later Withycombe had restored the balance as Simon Tozer scored his first try on English soil from the back of a rolling maul. Channing converted to leave Withycombe two scores in front, both of which they would need! Pirates hit back with a penalty to bring themselves within five points with 23 minutes left on the clock, the majority of which was spent inside the Withycombe half.

Two more yellow cards didn’t help, one for a Tozer tip tackle and one for a high tackle by Dav WEllbeloved with two minutes remaining, but despite some heroics one the tryline, at the scrum and a lot of pressure at the breakdown, the visitors somehow kept conceding penalties. On reflection the hosts might kick themselves for not shooting at goal but the gutsy Withycombe defence held out for the finest win of their eight on the trot this year. Next week Falmouth visit Raleigh Park before a real test of Withycombe’s ambition comes in the form of a cup tie at Teignmouth, high flyers in Western Counties.

Withycombe: Jack Pugsley, Sam Conway, Aaron Conway, Joe Parkin (YC), Kevin Rodwell, Glenn Channing (1C, 1P), John Parkin, David Wellbeloved (YC), Liam Cullen, Phil Sluman, Jon Axon, Dave Sims (1T), Simon Tozer (1T, YC), Danny Parry (YC, MoM), Mike Richards. Reps: Eugene Badenhorst, Adam Morris, Danny Sansom.