Bournville 34 Redruth 22
Bournville made it two bonus point home wins in a row by overcoming a tough and tenacious Redruth side at Avery Fields.
The kick-off was delayed by an hour after Redruth’s team bus was stuck in traffic on the M5 near Worcester and the Cornish side arrived just 15 minutes before the scheduled start.
But the delay appeared to affect Bournville just as much as Redruth as the players had an extra hour to kill while they waited for their opponents to arrive and then to complete their warm-ups.
That perhaps explained a rather disjointed performance but when Bournville did retain possession – and their discipline – they again produced some sparkling rugby which produced six tries – five of them in the first half.
But a heavy penalty count in the second-half allowed Redruth to stay in the hunt for longer than they probably should have and it required a huge defensive shift at the end of the match to deny them the consolation of at least a bonus point.
There were big performances for Bournville from centre Rob Knox, who scored two tries and caused problems for Redruth every time he touched the ball, skipper Ben Meakin and Chris Idehen – in his first appearance of the season.
Nathan Decalmer made it three tries in as many matches when he supplied a superb diving finish to an attack in which Knox featured prominently which was sandwiched by a penalty from Redruth fly-half Dean Wills and a close range try for openside flanker Jack King.
Bournville then enjoyed a 14 minute purple patch in which Sam Grimshaw, Knox and Stef Thorp scored tries but with scrum-half Freddie Morgan having an off-day with his kicking, Redruth were back in the game when loosehead prop Luke Barnes powered over.
Morgan made amends by nipping in for a smart try right on the stroke of half-time but Bournville’s hopes of building on that were dented when lock Nick Murphy was sin-binned for a high tackle four minutes after the break.
Redruth rumbled blindside Matt Pritchard over just before Bournville returned to full strength and Knox made the game safe when Knox rounded off a slick handling move for what proved to be the final score 22 minutes from time.
Redruth laid siege to the home line in the dying minutes but, with thunder and lightning rolling around the ground, Bournville held them out.
*Bournville Blues eased to a 129-0 win over Worcester Seconds at Westons Fields in Counties Midlands Three West (South).
Blues were 87-0 up at the break and the referee sensibly called time on the match 15 minutes into the second period after they had further extended the lead.
It was the Blues’ third straight maximum points win – one of them as a result of a walkover after Pershore conceded – since they were admitted to the RFU Leagues pyramid for the first time.
There were four tries for Josh Tutt and hat-tricks for Dallas Ororo, Ethan Walker and Will Taylor in a very one-sided contest.
Bournville Thirds made it another clean sweep for the club with a 31-19 victory at Dudley Kingswinford.
Header photo credit: Lee Sullivan
Through the Viewfinder
Lee Sullivan
