Camborne 18, Old Patesians 16

Camborne had to dig deep to salvage a narrow victory late on against the spirited Gloucestershire visitors on a wet and gloomy afternoon at the Rec.

The home side made it three early season South West Premier wins on the spin ahead of this weekend’s difficult away trip to Barnstaple.

Playing down the slope the winless Old Pats made the most of their first-half opportunities as the Cherry & Whites made far too many errors with the greasy ball in wet conditions.

Early on the home side let in James Aherne for a soft try wide on the right with the same player converting with a well judged kick. Not long after the full-back found the posts with a penalty from 40 metres for a ten-point lead.

When ‘Town’ did work good field position on 24 minutes David Mankee fired a regulation penalty attempt wide of the posts.

The outstanding visiting full back Aherne then stretched the lead on the half hour as he landed a monster effort from halfway for 0-13.

On the half-time whistle another superb long range penalty from the boot of Aherne saw the visitors move sixteen points clear leaving Camborne with a lot to do.

Early home pressure from the second half resumption eventually led to industrious prop Jon Drew being driven over from a catch and drive in the scoreboard corner to reduce the arrears.

The deficit was cut further midway through the half when sustained attacks from forwards and backs saw centre Lewis Vinnicombe show his strength to break two tackles before squeezing over for 10-16.

Going into the closing stages the Cherry & Whites worked an opportunity for left wing Alex Ducker to cross wide out but when Mankee’s conversion went astray they still trailed by a solitary point.

In time added on fly-half Mankee put his uncharacteristic earlier misses out of his mind to land a crucial 35 metre angled penalty shot to secure the spoils for a relieved home side and send the unfortunate visitors home with just a consolation bonus point.

Camborne: tries, Drew, Vinnicombe, Ducker; pen, Mankee.

Camborne: C Swan, L Thomas, L Vinnicombe, J Semmens, A Ducker, D Mankee, T Peacock, A Zacharovas, T Southworth, J Drew (capt), T Whittle, N Stannier-Smith, J Nicholls, J Rose, D Roberts