Penryn Ladies 22 North Petherton Ladies 17

Penryn got 2024 of the perfect start with a bonus point win but North Petherton gave them a mighty fright with a second half comeback, writes Jonathan Plummer.

Penryn started the match at a cracking pace and scored their first try after just a couple of minutes with full back Lucy Mehta with a fantastic run down the right wing to score in the corner.

Next on the scoresheet was Sophie Roberts after another good passing move by the back line.

Penryn were now fully in control with some great carries by the forwards, prop Louisa Meehan was able to dive over to give Penryn a 15 nil lead.

Lucy Mehta got her second try of the match finishing off an overlap and dotting down beneath the posts, Fly half Georgia Hall kicked the conversion and Penryn lead 22 nil at half time.

The second half was a different story though as North Petherton mounted an unlikely comeback. Penryn weren’t helped after Georgia Hall was sent to the sin bin for kicking the ball away. While Penryn were down to 14 players North Petherton scored two tries to close the gap to just ten points.

Penryn had their chances to extend the lead but couldn’t quite make the try line and when North Petherton scored a break away try in the 75th minute it meant for a tense last few minutes.

Penryn managed to see out the last few minutes with no more dramas and could celebrate their first win of the year. Danny Robins was ref and our thanks go to him.

This win pushed Penryn up to third in the league, player of the match was Lucy Mehta for two cracking tries and putting in some crunching tackles.

Forward of the match was Louisa Meehan for scoring a try and some excellent carries. Back of the match was new signing Rebecca O Reilly from Ireland for some excellent defensive work and finding space in attack.

This was another superb display by Penryn and are getting better and better after every match. The Ladies train at 7pm on Tuesday and Thursday and new players are more than welcome.