Bournville 25 Redruth 29. Second-half slump proves costly

Bournville turned victory into defeat by allowing Redruth to score 26 unanswered points in the final 35 minutes of a frenetic contest at Avery Fields.

When Nathan Decalmer crossed for his second try of the afternoon a minute into the second-half to secure a try bonus point it looked like Bournville were easing to victory and were going to bank all five points themselves.

Instead Redruth headed back down the M5 with a full bag of points after Redruth’s replacement hooker Matt Pritchard was driven over for a hat-trick of close-range tries with the winner coming with the final play of the match, seven minutes into stoppage time.

But it was a long-range try from Redruth right wing Dean Bonds midway through the second-half that proved significant and left Bournville with the consolation of two bonus points.

Bournville were building the pressure in attack but coughed up possession on Redruth’s 22 and Bonds picked up the loose ball and stretched away to score under the posts at the other end.

It was a 14-points swing that visibly lifted Redruth who spent most of the final quarter in attack while Bournville conceded a succession of penalties, lost lock Ben Meakin to the sin-bin and were unable to convert attacking opportunities into more points.

“For nought to 45 minutes it was probably the best rugby we have played. We were in complete control,” said Head Coach Matt Price.

“I said to the side afterwards that when we have our foot on the throat we have to press down a little bit more and not let a side come back into it.

“That is what we did. We had a massive penalty count against us in the second-half which gave them field position, we had a man in bin again which put us under pressure. We didn’t need to do that.

“It’s massively disappointing because our aim is to be in the top middle-half of the league, which is where Redruth are. We had a chance to do that today and we have come up short.

“Their second try was a 14-points swing. It was a big moment but we still had chances to put our foot back on the throat but we didn’t. We have to learn how to finish sides off.

“We want to keep the ball alive as part of our play but we have got to learn when to stick it up our jumper and manage the game which is what we should have done in that final 20 minutes.”

When Bournville did keep the ball and manage the game they were very good indeed.

Having failed to score a point in the mud at Luctonians seven days earlier it took only two minutes for Jacob Fewtrell to stroke over a second minute penalty to get the scoreboard moving.

Jonjo Fanning followed up with a try from a driving lineout and the lead was extended to 18-3 at the break with swift counter-attacks being rewarded with tries for Alex Evans and Decalmer.

Decalmer’s second try was the pick of the day with forwards and backs combining superbly to stretch Redruth’s defence and Owen Williams making ground up the left before drawing a tackler and slipping the ball to Decalmer.

But it all became a little too frenetic after that. Some Barbarians-style passing in contact showed ambition but a more pragmatic approach might have been better rewarded as Redruth demonstrated with their no-frills rugby in the final quarter.