Travelling to mid-Devon on Saturday, the Pirates of Penzance & Newlyn RFC were hopeful of putting in a performance to earn them much-needed points in Tribute Regional 2 SW, but it sadly wasn’t to be.

Founded in 1878, Crediton RFC stands as one of Devon’s proudest amateur rugby clubs, and one at the heartbeat of the community, as it showed at their Blaydon Exhibition Road ground.

The Pirates scored tries through lock Ben Martin and centre Josh Semmens, one of which was converted by fly-half Rhys Brownfield, but that was it on an ultimately disappointing day for the Cornish side. Now in tenth place of twelve in the league, their higher points for than against in games played is an indicator of what the team is capable of, so looking forward to an upturn in results will be very much hoped for.

Commenting at the end of the match, Penzance & Newlyn’s head coach Murray Westren said:

“This was a very disappointing result, especially to gain nothing from the game. Accumulating points in this league is important, and we are simply not collecting enough.

“Credit to Crediton, I thought they were by far the better side and as a collective showed very good understanding in their game.

“We can never fault the effort and character of the group who always give their best, but we are simply not learning our lessons quick enough, and we make the same mistakes. Until we do, we will continue to make life very difficult for ourselves.”

Penzance & Newlyn: 15 Ben Wragg 14 Joey Norways 13 Josh Semmens 12 Oscar Marr 11 Cal Gardner 10 Rhys Brownfield 9 Rhodri McAtee; 1 Dec Prowse 2 Kenny Jones 3 Joe Best 4 Ben Martin 5 Jamie Eddy 6 Tom Hutton 7 Sam Carroll 8 Stan Somers (captain).

Replacements (all used): 16 Ben Taylor, 17 Nick Nowell, 18 Harris Eddy.

(This coming Saturday, the Pirates are at home to Teignmouth. Kick-off is at 2.30 pm, when it is hoped a big crowd will be present to support the team.)