BANBURY 10pts

PENRYN 27pts

Penryn pulled off a fine away win in the qualifying round of the Powergen Cup, turning in a very exciting second half display against Banbury at Bodicote Park.

Lenny Bowers came in for Martin Mullins at 14 as Mullins was unable to travel and in the replacements Adam Giles was also unable to travel, with Steve Trevor replacing Bowers on the bench.

The Borough opened strongly but were unable to penetrate the Banbury defence as the game fluctuated from end to end.

After 15 minutes Peter Gregory put Penryn ahead with a penalty goal, but the lead was wiped out in the 34th minute when James Taylor scored a try in the left corner for Banbury. The conversion attempt by Andy Noyce failed to leave Banbury 5-3 ahead at half-time and slightly on top following a very spirited display.

Penryn opened the second half very strongly, relying on theitr forwards to take the game to Banbury. With sustained prerssure Peter Gregory kicked a second penalty after 13 minutes to make the score 6 -5 in Borough's favour. At this stage the Penryn pack was winning scrums and line outs, with the home side being pushed back at almost every scrum.

This domination paid off in the 19th minute of the second half, when the pack took the ball over the Banbury line with No 8 Ben Short (this season's captain) touching down and converted Gregory.

After 23 minutes Penryn extended their lead when flanker Tristan Lark snapped up another try again converted by Gregory.

Penryn's final try was scored by Alan Richards and the reliable Gregory converted from the touch line with a fine kick.

Banbury scored a consolation try from replacement Shaun Bannister in the closing stages to make the final score 10-27 to Penryn.

This was a game of two different halves. In the first it was very even, but Penryn's vastly superior forward play won them the game in the second half. All in all it was a first-class effort by all of the team and a great credit to the coaches and players in their dedicated preparations for a very difficult match against a club placed in a higher league than Borough.

Penryn used all of their six replacements, with Matt Keverne for Darren Jacques (10 minutes in to second half), Justin Doney for James Mann (24), Rob O'Kane for Lenny Bowers (27), and Steve Trevor and Richard Burns for Brett Whitmill and Kevin Hughes (35).

Danny Trick came on for Sheldon Waetford as a blood replacement in the first half and then again towards the end of the game.

Penryn now meet Cinderford in the next round - see page 55 for details.