Remembering that they narrowly lost 21-18 at Okehampton’s ‘Showground’ home last November, the Pirates gained their revenge in this entertaining Regional 2 South West contest played at the Mennaye Field on Saturday.

Thoughts of strong winds and the incredibly heavy rain of recent were cast side when the match kicked off on what felt a most welcome springlike afternoon. However, it was the Devon visitors who opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a try scored at the clubhouse corner.

There was a decent sized home crowd for a game that the Pirates were keen to win, so they were pleased when full-back Ben Wragg soon sped into space down the left and levelled matters.

After the ‘Okes’ took a lead again with their second try in the match, it was another fine effort from Wragg that made it 10-all before the Pirates registered their third try in the game, scored at the Newlyn gate corner by determined wing Harvey Stone. Fly-half Rhys Brownfield slotted a fine conversion and then added a penalty to make it 20-10 at the break.

But for an occasional stutter and lapse, the Pirates were playing very well overall against their top four opponents. Backs and forwards impressed in equal measure and it was good to see gifted scrum half Sam Carter back in action after a long time out because of injury.

Into the second half Brownfield slotted a further penalty before Okehampton hit back with a converted try. It certainly concentrated ‘Pirate’ minds, which were thankfully handed levels of relief when man of the match Wragg firstly secured a deserved hat-trick score, and then hooker Ted Hocking applied the pressure for a try that opened up an unassailable 16 points gap. A 33-17 scoreline guaranteed Penzance & Newlyn their victory, despite the Okes scoring a converted try at the death.

Commenting after the game, Penzance & Newlyn RFC’s head coach Murray Westren said:

“Excellent in the first half in a closely fought game, I did though think that we thoroughly deserved our lead at the break.

“For the first 20 minutes of the second half we perhaps gave the ball back to them too often and got a little stuck in the middle of the pitch. However, it was therefore full credit to the lads for finding their rhythm again and finishing the game strongly.”

Murray added: 

“Reflecting further it was a great team performance, and individually it was especially great to see Sam Carter return after such a long time out of the game. There was also a return for Dylan Arthur, plus not forgetting a debut for young full back Jowan Wilding.

“In remaining games, our aim now is to build our level of performance, and to be fully focused on finishing the season as strongly as possible.”

Penzance & Newlyn: 15 Ben Wragg 14 Harvey Stone 13 Josh Semmens 12 Oscar Marr 11 Callum Walsh 10 Rhys Brownfield 9 Sam Carter; 1 Dylan Arthur 2 Ted Hocking 3 Joe Best 4 Ben Martin 5 Nick Nowell 6 Tom Hutton 7 Sam Carroll 8 Stan Somers (captain).

Replacements: 16 Wes Eddy 17 Dave Penrose 18 Jowan Wilding.

Scorers:

Penzance & Newlyn – tries: Wragg (3), Stone, Hocking; con: Brownfield
pens: Brownfield (2).

Man of the Match: Ben Wragg.

(In Round 19 of Regional 2 South West, now seventh-placed Penzance & Newlyn are away to second-placed Tiverton this coming Saturday)