It was another derby day to remember for Penryn, as a first-half blitz helped secure a bonus point victory and left their rivals empty handed for the third time this season, writes Ross Hancock.

Penryn came away from the reverse league fixture with an excellent bonus point victory earlier on in the season, backed up by a much closer Boxing Day victory.

The game took on extra significance for Falmouth, who were looking over their shoulders at the wrong end of the table despite some recent good form. If the opening quarter of the game was anything to go by, the Borough were in a far from charitable mood.

The home side started with a rip-roaring tempo and a real accuracy, that the visitors struggled to contain. Josh Chambers opened the scoring with an excellent try down the right touchline that had been coming since the start, for a 5-0 lead with Sam Carter missing his first conversion attempt.

Penryn were getting a great deal of joy from the wide channels, playing with width and finding the edge all to frequently for the Eagles liking, who continued to struggle against wave after wave of attack. It was no surprise to see Penryn double their lead with a cracker of a score, as the home side sliced open the away defence once again to find Kyle Bradley in the kind of space he can’t be afforded, to dive under the sticks. Bizarrely Carter’s conversion was charged down.

Keen to make amends for his two missed kicks, Carter was next to cross for the Borough as a loose Falmouth kick was charged down and dived on by the scrum-half. He made no mistake with the conversion this time to make it 17-0.

Penryn had the bonus point in their sights now and were keen to wrap it up and put the game to bed before the break and they did exactly that. A fine charge from the home side took the Borough close to the line, but they stayed patient and again it was Carter who pounced to sneak in for try number four. Falmouth did get on the board before the break with a penalty goal, but a blistering 40 minutes from the hosts had done the job.

Despite a first half fizzing with flowing, attacking rugby, the second 40 was more of a classic niggly derby for the purist. With the breakdown a mess and the normal derby day spikiness coming to the fore, scores were at a premium. In fact the only points of the second half went to visitors, who managed a close range unconverted consolation try. Penryn may have failed to add to their first half tally, but the damage was already done.

Penryn: Levick, Chambers, Bradley, Tupholme, Salisbury, Vague, Carter, Illsley, Rush, Strick, Barker, Trevaskis, Hughes, Hellier, Randlesome. Reps: Fibbens, Jones, Hitchens.

Falmouth: Evans, Thomas, Job, Bruce, Campbell, Horton, Becconsall; Searle, Webster, Burroughs, Martin, Whittle, Spiller, Garway-Templeman, Simmons. Reps: Gay, Cobb, Firth.