PENRYN finished off their pre season preparations with an encouraging display in a narrow defeat to higher league St Austell at the Memorial Ground.

The Borough, under the new stewardship of Marek Churcher and head coach Russell Lawrance saw off the challenge of Hayle the previous week and were looking for a positive finish to their preparations for the upcoming Western Counties campaign.

St Austell narrowly missed out on promotion from South West One last season and were also looking to finish pre season strongly after heavy defeats to Camborne and the Cornish Pirates.

The visitors had the perfect start to the game, when scrum half Sam Tank showed nimble footwork to dance through the home defence and score after just two minutes.

While it may have seemed the Borough were in for a long afternoon, they were in no mood to lay down and took the game to their higher league opposition.

The set piece was a source of major satisfaction for the home side as they enjoyed great success both at line out and scrum, while the defence also looked organised and strong.

Whilst scoring opportunities were limited in the first period, the Borough looked more than comfortable, despite a late setback that saw Tank claim a second and this time converted try for a 12-0 saints lead at the break.

Whilst the scoreline was harsh on the home side there was no time to feel sorry for themselves as they stormed back.

Using the excellent set piece as a platform, Grant Randlesome eventually crossed following a series of drives on the Saints’ line, with Matt Horton adding the extras.

Penryn had the bit between their teeth and with Saints on the rack, captain George Jones went on a wonderfully mazy run feeding the supporting Horton to bamboozle the defence as he dotted down to convert his own try and give Penryn the lead.

St Austell responded brightly and were soon back in front when full back Dan Pearce cut loose and showed his pace to sprint clear to make it 17-14, with the conversion being missed.

It was Penryn's turn to respond now and they did exactly that following a series of attacking phases, with Randlesome adding his second from slightly further out and handing the lead back to the Borough.

The game had all the intensity of an important league match and a recent local epic the two sides had shared on the same ground some 18 months previous.

The Borough looked to have secured a major pre season scalp as the seconds ticked down, but to St Austell's credit they found Pearce again following a quick tap who crossed to give Saints the win with the last play.

It was a disappointment for Penryn, but in a worthwhile exercise they will have no doubt taken more out of the game ahead of their first league game at home to relegated Sidmouth this Saturday.

Penryn: 15 Horton, 14 Evans, 13 Jordan, 12 Stuthridge, 11 Hughes, 10 C Hinchley, 9 Salisbury; 1 Oldfield, 2 Birkett, 3 Pattison, 4 Hancock, 5 Ashwin, 6 Randlesome, 7 P Hinchley, 8 Jones (c).

Replacements: Tedstone, Hoban, J Seviour, Churcher, Simmons.